going to call to order this commission meeting of the city of St. Pete Beach. Today is Monday, September 8th, 2025. It is 6 pm. Let's stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it
stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. This evening is going to comprise of two different meetings. The first one is going to be our annual budget, the first of our two annual budget meetings. Um,
after that meeting is adjourned, we're going to move on to a regular agenda. And so with that, we will start with the budget meeting and ask if there are any amendments to the agenda for the budget. Mayor, I do need to call roll. Thanks, Ricky.
Vice Mayor Marriott here. Commissioner Robinson here. Commissioner Rzniki here. Commissioner Maldonado here. Mayor Petrilla here. We have a quorum. Thank you. Are there any amendments to the budget meeting?
City manager, you had mentioned the sheriff's contract. That's after we conclude the budget meeting. Correct. Okay. Thank you. All right. If there are no amendments, is there a motion, please? I move to approve. If I could read the title. Oh, sorry. I'll do the title real quick. An
ordinance of the city of St. Florida. We're not We're not that far. The agenda. The agenda. We're just at the agenda. What? We're at the agenda. Oh, I'm sorry. We are running on a 100% all cylinders today.
It's one of those days. This is This is why we don't have commission meetings on Mondays. Yeah. All right. So, I'll move that we approve the agenda. I second. City Clerk, if you'll please do a roll call. Vice Mayor Marriott. Yes.
Commissioner Robinson. Yes. Commissioner Rzniki. Yes. Commissioner Maldonado. Yes. And Mayor Patulla? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. So the clerk, are there any general audience comments? There are no general audience comments. Okay. With that, we move to the first
item. Ordinance 3A, first reading of ordinance 2025-18, an ordinance of the city of St. P Beach, Florida, establishing the millage rate for fiscal year 2026, beginning October 1st, 2025, and ending
September 30th, 2026. Providing and announcing the name of the taxing authority, the rolled back millage rate, the percentage increase over the rolled back millage rate, and the millage rate to be levied, provided for reading in its entirety, and providing for an
effective date. Thank you, sir. Devin. Good evening, mayor, city commission. I'm Devon Schmidt, our finance director for the city of St. Pete Beach. Um, so first off, we just have the um first reading of ordinance 2025 for our
millage rate for fiscal year 2026. Um, as the commission is aware, the um city of St. Pete Beach is required to formally adopt its millage rate for the fiscal year 2026 in compliance with Florida state statute. The ordinance
proposes a millage rate of 3.0913 mills per 10,00 of taxable value for fiscal year 2026. The millage rate is 8889% lower than the rolled back rate of
3.1189 or $140,000 approximately in advorum value. Um, as the commission is aware, this was a deliberate um, decision of the commission to keep the millage rate the same for 2026 in order to help ease
the financial burden um, after the storms for the residents. So with that, um, this is the changes of millage per year. So this does include city, county, school, EMS and other districts um, from 2020 to 2025 and
those changes in the millages. So um just showing kind of a quick calculation of how we get to that revenue and how that translates for our budget. Um you can see the taxable value there, our millage rate with our advalorum subtracting out that 70% for the 4%
discount rate. And that's how we're arriving at the $15.1 million for the millillage. And so with that, um just have a action request for the commission to consider. Thank you, Devin.
Commissioners, comments, questions. Are there any audience comments? There are no audience comments. Thank you. Thank you, Deon. Commissioners, is there a motion? A motion to approve the first reading of ordinance 2025-18
establishing the millage rate for fiscal year 2026. Second. Do we need to mention the actual military since we can't adjust it up down or
we can let's go back and grab it is 3.0913 mills a motion please. I go I motion to approve the first reading of ordinance 2025-18
establishing the millage rate of 3.093 mills. Nope. 913. Sorry. 913 mills for the fiscal year of 2026. Second. City clerk, if you'll please do a roll call. Commissioner Robinson, yes. Commissioner Rzniki,
yes. Commissioner Maldonado, yes. Vice Mayor Marriott, yes. And Mayor Petrillo, yes. The motion carries. Thank you. Next, we have item 3B, first reading of ordinance 2025-19, adopting the budget for fiscal year
2026. An ordinance of the city of St. P Beach, Florida. Adopting the budget for fiscal year 2026 beginning October 1st, 2025 and ending September 30th, 2026, providing for the incorporation of the
adopted capital budget as the capital improvement element of the comprehensive plan, providing for reading it in its entirety, and providing for an effective date. Thank you. Okay. Good evening. for the record, Devon Schmidt. Um, still the finance
director for the city of St. Pete Beach. Um, so before you, we have the ordinance 2025, which is adopting the budget for fiscal year 2026. Um, as the commission is aware, um, we worked through the budget through five separate, uh, budget workshops, which
also includes the finance budget review committee. Um so all of these items have been uh presented before you and brought back on uh different occasions throughout the workshops. For our budget summary, um the commission can see that for our total governmental funds, we're looking at
$67.2 million in revenues and $86.7 million in expenditures. For our proprietary funds, um we are recommending for $23.3 million in our total revenues in all enterprise funds
and 36 um million in expenditures for our uh enterprise funds. So looking at this business impact estimate, so for 2026 as presented, um we are looking at including revenues and
transfers in for the entire city totaling 90,69,137. This is for all funding uses including expenditures and transfers out. And for our uh expenditures, we're looking at $122,829,040. The difference of the revenues and
expenditures is $32,219,93 and that represents our existing fund balance um for one-time capital projects for our funded positions by department. Um you can see here that we're requesting 159.6
um full-time equivalents of personnel. Uh 44 of those is within our fire and EMS. So that's our largest um department with personnel followed by our public services department. Looking at our capital improvement plan
um the summary of changes in capital projects. So the budget um is a living and breathing document that can be approved and um updated uh by the commission. Um, so since our last workshop number five, I just wanted to call out a couple um items or a couple
capital projects that we're re requesting reappropriation for into 2026. So we have the community center seaw wall replacement, the watershed management plan, the 36th Avenue seaw wall replacement, Mary Pier bait shack rebuild, the Don Cesar baffle structures
and Don Cesar outfall improvements, passway tide check valve replacements, um four-wheel drive trucks within our building fund, and the city hall AV reappropriation project. Looking at our total capital improvement
plan for for fiscal year 2026, um we have $134,000 in our general fund capital, uh we have $195,000 in our building fund, excuse me, uh 5.7 million in our resiliency fund and projects. And then in our capital
improvement um fund, we're looking at $31.2 million. For our fleet fund, we're requesting just over $1 million. In our wastewater fund, we are looking at 15.5 million, reclaimed water, 700,000, and
storm water, $3.8 million. And in parking, 300,000 for a total of 58.7 million in capital improvement projects. And with that, I do have a a requested um motion.
Commissioners, questions, comments? Do we have any general audience comments? There are no audience comments. Okay, commissioners, just to make sure that the public understands, we've gone over this at multiple times now. So, the last
meeting was about an hour and a half. And so we the reason we may not have any questions tonight about $123 million budget um is not because we don't have any questions. It's because we've already gone through all the iterations of the budget. Uh so with that, is there
a motion? I motion to approve the first reading of ordinance 2025-9 adopting the budget for fiscal year 2026. I second. City clerk, if you'll please do a roll call. Commissioner Resniki, yes. Commissioner Maldonado,
yes. Vice Mayor Marriott, yes. Commissioner Robinson, yes. And Mayor Petrilla, yes. Motion carries. Thank you. I think it was only appropriate that Commissioner Rzniki, you motion that last item. um considering how many years you have
fought for all the different items that were in that budget uh particularly for the Donsesar neighborhood and in that area in Belle Vista, the tie check valve, the sea valves, the baffle boxes, storm water. Um, so it's it's good to see it's good to see a lot of those items
come in. And I think that's just come from from having a staff that's taking the commission uh and saying here's we've given you what the priorities are because our residents told us what the priorities are. And I it's I just love to see that you're are getting to the point of executing those. So thank you very much. Thank you.
And I and I also add that and to thank the staff because it's not just this budget process. there was years of workshops um now led by Camden as well and and the whole team. I mean I don't know how many meetings we've had um and
now starting with Bel Vista as well and Focus and Leo and just all of them and I know the city overall has the same experiences but um it was a lot of years of work. So thank you. Thank you Devin. Next we have action
item 4A resolution 2025-20 establish rate of storm water service assessment. All right, last one for me. Um Devin Schmidt, finance director, city of St. Pete Beach. This is a resolution to establish the a rate of storm water
service assessments. And so the city annually imposes uh nonadvalorum property assessments for the operation and maintenance of our city's storm water infrastructure. The assessments are included as a component of residents property tax bills and as an annual
requirement for imposing the assessments and those are similar to our millage rate and the budget adoption process. So the assessment structure includes two billing um tiers. So our tier one is assessed on a per parcel basis and imposed to fund the program costs
associated with our city's storm water system. The second tier is assessed based upon the impervious surface area with higher cost imposed on properties with physical characteristics that place a greater burden on the storm water drainage system. So the equivalent
residential unit or ERU for tier 2 is 3,813 square ft based on a typical imperous surface area of a single family parcel. Um so what we're proposing for this resolution um beginning fiscal year October 1, 2025 is no changes are
proposed in the existing tiers um for this fiscal year. So our tier one is a per tax parcel at $64.32 and tier 2 is variable per eru at $11943. And with that I have a action request.
Thank you. Questions, comments? Do we have any audience comments? There are no audience comments. Thank you. Commissioners, is there a motion? I'll make a motion to adopt resolution 2025-20 establishing rate of storm water service
assessments. I second. Thank you. City clerk, if you'll please do a roll call. Commissioner Maldonado. Yes. Vice Mayor Marriott? Yes. Commissioner Robinson? Yes. Commissioner Rzniki? Yes. Mayor Petilla? Yes. The motion carries.
With that, our budget meeting is adjourned and we are moving to the regularly scheduled commission meeting. First, we'll have the approval of the agenda. Are there any amendments to the agenda as proposed? I would request uh first that we move
the discussion on the sheriff's contract to the first item ahead of audience comments. I have a couple discussion items. Okay. Um my first one is going to be uh cup administration
and uh the second one would be uh mix on um SB 180. Okay. And then mayor, I'd have a a discussion item to add as well um regarding uh if if we need to look at uh any
changes to our setbacks based on new construction of elevated houses. Okay. Are there any other amendments? Is there a motion to approve the agenda as amended?
I make a motion to approve the agenda as amended. Second. City clerk, if you please do a roll call. Vice Mayor Marriott? Yes. Commissioner Robinson? Yes. Commissioner Rzniki? Yes. Commissioner Maldonado? Yes. Mayor Petrilla? Yes. The motion carries.
Thank you. With that, the first item for this evening, it is action item 4 A to authorize a city man to execute the Panelis County Sheriff's Office in a local agreement. Good evening, Mayor and Commissioner.
Adam Puyer, assistant city manager here at the city of St. Pete Beach. Tonight, what you have in front of you is the interlocal agreement renewal with the Penelis County Sheriff's Office, our annual renewal. Uh just to give you a couple quick um background information on this agreement. It's under the
Florida Interlocal Cooperation Act, which uh we entered into agreement with Penelis County Sheriff's back in fiscal year 13 when we moved from our own police department to the sheriff's office. Uh that contract was just over $2 million. Um what I'll tell you about that is the staffing levels have kind of
gone up and down since that point. We have increased the staffing levels. We've added uh two deputies, we've added uh sergeants. Um and so one of the biggest drivers of the cost increases is the personnel that we add because every time we add personnel, it adds equipment, things of that nature. And of course uh the the employment cost per
per deputy have gone up significantly since since 2013 like all of employment costs. So that's kind of the driver of the increase. Um, but what this contract does for us, it provides a high quality uh law enforcement uh services to our residents and to our visitors. And uh
this partnership approach with the Penelis County Sheriff's Office ensures uh fiscal responsibility uh and law enforcement efficiency. So these are going to be the current staffing levels and we did make some changes which I'll capture in the next couple slides. But um this year we have
10 patrol deputies, four sergeants, two community policing deputies. Um part of the contract also is that we have access to all the other resources that the Penelis County Sheriff's Office offers and that's detectives, the public safety communicators, which are the 911 dispatchers, and then of course the
school crossing guards that you see on Blind Pass Road. Additionally, we get all the common uh law enforcement aspects of routine patrols, uh marine patrols, and then of course uh beach enforcement. So, some of those key adjustments that we made and and what I'll say about this
is similar to all parts of the budget when we sharpened our pencil and we started looking at the the sheriff's contract, we looked at ways where we could come within the budget numbers of what we had in the previous years. So, what we decided to do was reduce, and we did mention this to you all during the budget process, obviously, but we did
reduce the community policing deputies from three back to two. Um, that had been the normal. We we started with one, we went to two. Um, recently, about two years ago, we went to three. Um, we did look at the other municipalities that surround us, and this does put us in line with with those other communities.
For example, Madira Beach has two community policing deputies. Um, so that was one cost saving reduction. And then the secondary employment that you see there, that's when we asked for additional deputies, via beach patrol or things of that nature. Um, we were maxed
out at $250,000. We did lower that to $150,000 and we did that based on actual use. So we looked at how much we'd been spending over the term of the of the contracts and we felt like the 150 number was was the right amount. So that's why we uh we add we we reduced that.
So those were the two major changes. One of the other things that we did in our contract was we did notice when we reviewed the contract that we didn't specifically spell out the what our expectations were of the two community policing officers. We did see that in other contracts. Having spoke to the
sheriff and and his staff, we know that they kind of defined what all those people did. So they they were doing what we were expecting, but we did just add it to the contract just to just to clean it up. So wasn't that it wasn't happening, it just wasn't in the contract. So, when you look at the uh overview of the financial cost of this, uh the total
cost is just over 3.5 million with a monthly payment of just under 300,000. Um the cost increase from the current year to this year is just uh 0.05%. So, just over $1,800. Prior to us making those two cost adjustments that that I spoke of, we
were at 3.7 million, which was a 7% increase. So, those two um uh cost-saving measures that we in put in place today was the $100,000 we reduced in offduty and then reducing that one community policing deputy saved uh
147,000 just over 147,000. And then finally, the contract administration. Uh basically, it's a year contract. Um it's it's standard language where either party can cancel within 90 days. And if we don't uh if we don't uh renew the contract like we're doing tonight, it would automatically
update for an additional 120 days. So just in summary, uh what this contract does for us and our community and and the citizens that that we serve is it maintains a strong law enforcement partnership. Um it we again we did make some adjustments for some fiscal
responsibility. Um but ultimately this still continues to ensure uh community safety. And with that, um, Sheriff Gutier is here to, uh, to address you all and, uh, I'm going to let him come up now, but we're happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Kevin.
Thanks. Good evening, everybody. Pleasure to be here. They asked me to come down and, uh, just talk to you. Happy to answer any questions you want. We're happy to be here in St. Pete Beach. You know, one of the things that we talked about the, you know, first year of the contract, but I was here then, I'm in my 15th year in office now.
So, I was here in 2013 when we took over down here. The cost savings the first year was 4.5 million to the city. Uh so it was a big savings. It was huge. And one of the things I think that uh we bring hopefully many things we bring to the city but economies of scale uh
effective services at a very very reasonable uh cost. And as we're talking about I had met with the city manager a few weeks ago and we talked about this. when you want to reduce a community policing deputy, you want to adjust um the amount that you're spending and
off duty, etc. But by contracting with us, we can provide that flexibility. You can go up and down. You can make those changes. You can be nimble. And one of the things that was a driver in the cost savings when St. Pete Beach had its own police department. And I'll just analogize it this way. Maybe it's not a
good analogy, but I'll use it anyway, is think about Publix on the day before Thanksgiving. and you walk into Publix and they got, you know, 15 cash register lanes and they're all open and staffed. But that's what the old St. Pete Beach Police Department had to do because you had to be staffed for peak times because they were self-contained. They didn't
have any other resources. So, they had to be staffed for spring spring break and all the community events and everything you have. You don't need that all the time. Just like Publix doesn't have to have all 15 cash register lanes open in middle of June. So with us is is that that's where we came up with a staffing model where we have the
deputies that are assigned here but we can surge staff for you and that's one of the benefits of having that uh secondary employment model and it's worked and in fact um you know we've talked about some other cities uh using that. Duneden uses that and some of the others do. So I think that's one of the
things that provides you with maximum flexibility. St. Pete Beach is a safe community. Uh that's what you want. Uh, you know, obviously tourism is a big driver as it is throughout the county and throughout the state. We want people to be safe and feel safe and they are here in St. Pete Beach. Um, you know, we
often get concerns about uh some of the things quality of life issues and people out on the beach doing things they shouldn't and that's why we have the beach patrols and we're out there uh and try and, you know, be fair and equitable, but we're willing to, you know, take them enforcement action where
we need to. So, um, if there's any questions that you all have, anything you wanted to talk about, I'm happy to address anything that, uh, you want to talk about. Thank you, Commissioner Nikki. Hi. Um, I have a couple of of questions
or maybe just comments, not that I need an answer um, right this moment. Um, I I'm representative for district three, which is basically the Donsar, Belvis, Alto. Um, and some of the things, you know, the the community policing has always been a big topic in a lot of the
association meetings that I've been to, um, and working in many different organizations, the the thing that always breaks apart is communication, right? How how community officers um, know um, what the community expects
um, whether it's ordinances, you know, and I'll give you some comments that they say. I see them drive by, but they don't even they didn't even see that's an ordinance, you know, like why is that car parked there? It's not supposed to be there. Or um I haven't seen them drive by here in forever. And by the
way, I'll add a comment because I actually said this to the city manager today. Whatever you've been doing in the last couple months, maybe. I don't know if you implemented something, but I hadn't seen the sheriff um patrol the neighborhood in quite some time. It felt like no one was ever driving around. And all of a sudden, I'm like, gosh, there
they go by again. And so I was like, "What's going on? Is there something happening or you know?" So, but it felt good because it reminded me back when we did have our own um officers, you know, our police department, St. Pete Beach.
So, I always felt the presence. They always lowered the window. They always said, "Hey, how are you doing?" You know, and it wasn't because I was a commissioner. I was, you know, they didn't know who I was, but I always felt like they were a part of the community. A lot of our meetings in the neighborhood always involved a community
police officer coming to the meeting. So that way the residents could talk to the officer what's going on, what are they're seeing and so forth. Um it it provided a sort of a connection, you know, to to the neighborhoods. And every neighborhood, you know, here that we're representing is a little bit different
in where they're located and what what they're seeing. You know, the larger resort districts or the business areas might be different than um the Donses are, let's just say. Um but anyways, one of the you know what I would like for you to thank you don't have to answer is
is improving that relationship that that um people feel that um because it does make you feel safe but also heard you know that we have this issue that's always happening um whether you know we've had car thefts in the neighborhood
in the Donsesar. We've had um people walking onto people's docks in the middle of the night. um whether it's loud noises, you know, um people's uh sleeping underneath the bridge um by the bayway, you know, a lot of little things that makes people not feel safe that
they've communicated to me, but we don't know how to bring that back, you know, other than obviously to the city manager, but being heard or maybe having opportunities with that community officer to come to a meeting and and speak. So, that's what I I wanted to bring up. Well, I I think that it it's
no question it's important that people are safe, but they have to feel safe and they are two different things, but they lead you to the same place. Um, you know, I know that the community policing deputies, you have two down here. You know, as we talked about, you all made a
decision this year, too, for the upcoming budget year to decrease by one. Um, and that was largely the deputy was out there on the beaches. Uh but you you you are well staffed here. Um you have primarily on most shifts you have two
deputies plus a sergeant plus the community policing deputies and then we have kind of an overlap shift that goes into the evening hours. Um you know it does get busy sometimes. Uh you have traffic crashes, you have other things. It's you know it's not a not a huge city, but it's big. You got all the way from Treasure Island all the way down.
Um, so I would say it probably does vary in the amount of presence that you see, but I know that the deputies are out there in the community. I know that they're trying to be present and and be seen. We'll continue to try and beef up that effort um and make sure that they are in are in the neighborhoods,
especially down this is something that's come up forever about that presence in the south end of the city. So, we'll make sure that we try and continue continue to try and make an effort to do that. you know, as far as uh you know, the the crime and thefts and all is that
you know, one's too many, but overall for a city this size, and we track the stats and crime stats, we look at it all the time, but we really measure it because you want to look at it over a period of time, and we look at it on an annual basis and a sem semiannual basis. So, when you look at like thefts in St.
Pete Beach for the first uh six months of this year compared to the first six months of last year, so this would be January to July. And this is really a low number in the city of Safety Beach and this would include now it's not open now but Publix I mean all the retail businesses I mean everything for the
whole city. This is people getting wallets taken while on the beach or whatever. He had a total of 48 theft incidents that and that's down 23% from last year where there were 63. Those are very low numbers. And uh you know for those 48 victims are still victims of
course like I said I get it but those are very low numbers overall. um all of the crime in uh St. Pete Beach was for that period of time uh down uh about 26%
total. So um you know again it is safe and and that's what you want because people need to feel but we'll work on on that. Um, sometimes too, I'll just say, and I shared these numbers, I don't know, I think the city manager may have shared this with you. A lot of the times we get complaints and it's it's all
over, but a lot of it down the south about ordinances, you know, like you just mentioned. And so, and this has been ongoing uh down here since 2013. uh and I've addressed it many times um you know with this but think about this
because so we are out here and we are enforcing the ordinances and we are going to enforce them but it it's also you know about being fair and about doing the right thing by people and I always look at things is that put myself or put ourselves in the position of the
citizens and what's really important is that people know what the rules are and they uh be given a chance to adhere to those rules and if they don't and then they know the consequences and that's a decision they make. So um no enforcement
should be a gotcha. It should be fair and so we spent and again this is from July of 2024 through July 1 of 2025. So a whole year and you want to measure things over a period of time. You don't want to measure them in little step but you want to look at it over time. So over that
year period uh documented deputies spent 1,855 hours working details that were directed patrols in St. Pete Beach looking for ordinance violations. So that's a pretty
fair amount of time that they spent. And out of that almost $1,900 of time there were uh total of 55 citations and a total of 1300 warnings issued. So you say, okay, well, you gave a lot of warnings, but here's a reason why we
give warning. Because it's fair and it works. If it doesn't work, then we'll have no problem inciting people. Uh, but it but here, think about this is that out of the uh 1,288 people. So of those um citations and
warnings, there were 1,288 subjects who received a citation or warning and a total of 16 repeat offenders. So every time that we come in contact with somebody and whether it's a dog on the beach or somebody not with a leash or any of the other ordinance violations is that we document them in a system. So
that way the next time a deputy encounters that person we can look and see is this your first rodeo or not. You know if we have warned you before and you're doing it again well it's time to pay up. You didn't get the message. So we are documenting all those contacts. We put them in the system and what we
found is that there there were only 16 repeat offenders. So when people see, oh, they're not doing this and they're not doing that and all these people keep doing the same things, it's really not the same people doing it again and and we are we are addressing it. So for the public, uh, know that we are out there. We do care about the ordinances. We do
care about enforcement and we are doing it. Uh, but I think we're doing it in uh a fair and an equitable way because if we were to give every single one of those people uh every time that they took their dog to the beach and they didn't know and we were given citations
opposed to warnings, what are we accomplishing? You know, other than being heavy-handed with people, we don't want to do that. Commissioner Robinson, I was glad to hear you said statistically that we were down 26% only. I say that because I've gotten an
uptick in my crime alerts um especially from 55th to 75th uh for both petty and violent crimes. Um so I was happy to hear the statistics have gone down. Maybe I wasn't paying attention that much last year to my
crime alerts. Don't know, but um that's good to hear and I appreciate the the uh the philosophy on the citations versus warnings. Um um I do have a concern on uh the deputies being um uh uh
knowledgeable on the uh decibel meter because I personally was involved with one telling me that they did they didn't know okay how to use one and I don't really want to hear that when you know I have residents calling me on the weekends and at night and after hours. It's it's
I was aware of it. I think I think we fixed that. Well, two and the problem being I don't know where the communication lacks between the sheriff's office and our code enforcement. Um I don't know if there's things we can do to help to improve that or what we can do, but I'd like to, you know, see better
communication because I just that that I got sucked into wasn't even when it came to special magistrate wasn't even filed as a complaint. So there was no record of it. So, which amazed me on that. So, just like to see that. Y. Sure.
Appreciate everybody's hard work and and I second the fact I'd love to see a little bit more presence driving by in the neighborhoods. Sure. Um because I don't see that too much in my neighborhood. Um so, but thank you. I drove right by him sitting on the
corner at the stoplight stop. My only It's only happened a couple times. It used to happen all the time. Commissioner Marinado, it's a money maker. So, first and foremost, thank you for your service and for uh what it is that you do for our incredible city. I will say that I am
extremely pleased uh with the policing efforts. I do understand the warnings. It's a pretty big number. I did go back and look at one year. Uh thank you for providing that. And I did notice that there was only one warning uh or official citing for loud noise. And um I
did bring that up to the commission before and it's one of the things that I will encourage people to report officially loud noise complaints because it makes our job even more difficult. I I know the sheriff comes out, they do respond, they give the verbal citations
and they are being fair as you said, but it's one of the things that we have to work with uh as a community. The other thing is thank you for your proactive efforts. Uh we did have one intersection over in Pasigril that we're very concerned with. I spoke with some of the sheriff deputies that were out there and
they passed it along and they've been incredible uh just really being proactive with that and making sure that our citizens are safe. So, thank you very much for that, sir. You're welcome. Thank you, commissioners. Sheriff, I think your um analogy was quite appropriate
um because we have these spurts of huge need, you know, whether it's, you know, Fourth of July weekend, whether it's the two weeks in spring break. Um, and so to be able to ramp up staffing without having to increase staffing. Um, and I'm not really sure you charge us for all of that every single time. And so I I I
just want to say we do see that and we do certainly appreciate it very much because I know this is not a money-making endeavor for you. Fact, you might even be losing a little money on us. Um, so we all your efforts are very very much appreciated. Yeah. And and you're welcome and glad to do it. No, you you and you don't. I
mean, it's all um there's a lot of things that you get that you don't necessarily pay for in the contract and that's just part of the services that we provide. Um you know and you know the increases when we do have contract increases it's because our costs are up and all we're doing is
passing along the exact costs that there are um and you do get credit because you do pay um countywide taxes and so you do get credit for those taxes that you're already paying as well. So I think this year in the contract the as an example
this year in the contract the the deputy rate that you're paying per deputy fully loaded they're not making this they like to but is $132,000 but that's fully loaded. That's with F FRS and health insurance and everything else but the truly loaded cost of that's about 160.
So you're not you're not paying that because you're getting credit uh for what residents of St. Pete Beach are already paying uh countywide into our budget. So there's I you know appreciate you recognizing that there there is
there is a lot of value uh to this contracting model. Thank you sir. Commissioner Marriott. I just wanted to say that I I think that the the contract that we have with the sheriff's office is a tremendous deal. Um you know I lived here before when when St. Pete Beach had their own police
force as well and and uh the difference in the resources that that you guys bring to the city is pretty tremendous. And uh um I have to apologize. I think my district has had all the deputies because I see them all the time. So and we and we think it's great. So
where are you? Which one? District one. So 75th North. Um and uh uh uh it it is a it is a tremendous response anytime it's needed and I know everybody really appreciates it. So thank you. Good. Good. Glad to hear it. Thank you, sir. Okay. Thanks everybody. Appreciate it. Thank you. Y
thank you. City clerk, do we have any general audience comments or on this? There are no audience comments. Thank you. All right. Is there a motion? I make the motion to authorize the city manager to execute the Panelis County Sheriff's Office interlocal agreement
with the Penllis County Sheriff's Office for Law Enforcement Services from October 1st, 2025 through September 30th, 2026 in the amount of $3,56,472. Second. City clerk, if you please throw a roll call. Commissioner Robinson,
yes. Commissioner Isniki, yes. Commissioner Maldano, yes. Vice Mayor Marriott, yes. And Mayor Petrilla, yes. The motion carries. Thank you. Do we have any general audience comments? There are no general audience comments.
Thank you. Next, we move on to the consent agenda. Are there any comments on the consent agenda? I just have one comment just because I want to um I sent it pretty late to the city manager, but just do you want me to go ahead and say it first or Okay. For C for the the Morelli
landscaping um just because when I started going in the detail of the of the contract and I know you could work this out with the Morelli landscaping um company is um the listing of all the the species of plants that they had. I know you all probably saw this long list. I
think it was 153 different plants, but I'll give you an example of one, the fountain grass. And and I heard someone down here pulled some grass, but I've been out there to the dunes, and fountain grass is an invasive um species, and it would be kind of
contradictory to be approving a contract with one of the ones that we're filling the most bins with um for the dunesavers out there at the beach. Um, so just for um and I don't know how to I think it I when you read the contract it says before you choose I think the
landscaping and I'm looking over to Camden because I'm not quite sure who who heads the thing but to make sure that maybe working a we have an ordinance and I shared that to the city manager that had specific species because we want to increase native species in the city and then um I know
dune savers when I was on um beach stewardship we had conversations about this increing increasing the percentage of native to non-native plants. Um, and it doesn't state it obviously in the contract, but as a city, we should be pushing what we're asking for others to do. So, I just wanted to make sure that
that was said and we work it out however we need. Which was the species name again? What number? One particular one is fountain grass, but there's 153 that I really didn't have a lot of time to look at every species name to figure out which ones were invasive. Um, and I think it would
just be nice to work with um um I know June Savers did this before. I think it was in 2012 sometime around there and they and they came up with the list and maybe someone in in Rex has this list but yeah for the record public services director and he has
committed to share that plant list and then also we won't specify any invasive species on city projects. Okay. Thank you. That was it. Thank you. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? I move to approve the consent agenda.
Second. City clerk, if you please roll call. Commissioner Rzniki, yes. Commissioner Maldonado, yes. Vice Mayor Marriott, yes. Commissioner Robinson, yes. And Mayor Petrilla, yes. The motion carries.
All right. Next, we have action item 4B, resolution 2025-22, authorizing the city manager to execute the North Beach Historic Survey Grant Agreement. A resolution of the city commission of the city of St. Pete Beach, Florida, authorizing the city
manager to execute the North Beach Historic Survey Grant Agreement, including any amendments with the state of Florida, Department of State, Division of Historical Resources, and providing an effective date. Good evening. Laura Canary, community development director. This is the next
lineup of grant funding for our historic survey. So, we're very excited to get this underway. Um, we've been in talking with the team and Lin Rosetti. Our plan is once this survey is completed to kind of come back and give an update kind of all-incclusive kind of looking at what we've done so far and then kind of
connecting the dots because there's some other efforts going on concurrently. Elevate Florida has actually initiated some historical surveys as well. And so kind of just to bring it all back to you all and show what's been surveyed, where some gaps are, and then what it all means as it pertains to redevelopment
moving forward. But what you have before you tonight is basically accepting the grant funds. It's not a bad thing. Thank you. Questions, comments? Are there any audience comments?
There are no audience comments. Thank you. Is there a motion? I'll move to approve resolution 2025-22 authorizing the city manager to execute the North Beach Historic Survey Grant Agreement. I a second. City clerk, if you please roll call. Commissioner Maldonado,
yes. Vice Mayor Marriott, yes. Commissioner Robinson, yes. Commissioner Resniki, yes. And Mayor Petrilla, yes. The motion carries. Thank you. Next, we have action item 4 C, final reading of resolution 2025-19,
a resolution of the city commission of the city of St. Pete Beach, Florida, making findings expanding the Corey Landing Green Reuse Area by including property located at 75 Corey Avenue and 85 Corey Circle, St. P Beach, Florida as
identified by parcel ID numbers 36-31-1530672- 063- 0230 and parcel ID number 36-31-15-13590--0000-00 [Music] pursuant to section 376.80 80 parent 2
PAR C Florida statutes for the purpose of rehabilitation, job creation, and promoting economic redevelopment. Authorizing the city of St. Pete Beach to notify the Florida Department of Environmental Protection of said designation, providing an effective date.
Thank you. Good evening again, Laura Canary, community development director. We do have Brett Brunmond um with us this evening. He's the KT Cory Avenue new owners representative, so he's happy to answer any questions that you might have. Thank you. This is the second reading
for this resolution. Commissioner, is there any questions or comments? City clerk, do we have any audience comments? There are no audience comments. Thank you. Is there a motion? I'll move to approve the final reading
of resolution 2025-9 expanding the Cory Landing Green reuse brownfield area. Thank you. I second. City clerk, if you please do a roll call. Vice Mayor Marriott? Yes. Commissioner Robinson? Yes. Commissioner Rzniki? Yes.
Commissioner Maldonado? Yes. And Mayor Petrilla? Yes. The motion carries. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next, we have items for discussion. Commissioner Robinson, you had two items. Yeah, I I wanted to bring up because this is the only format that we can talk
about everything. So, wanted to uh bring this up um in regards to uh conditional use permit um administration. I know that there's been conversations or we have brought up or uh uh Commissioner Resniki brought up you know about review
processes or are there some brought up the list of cups that we currently have. Um I just wanted to discuss this a little bit more entailed in regards to there's time and effort that's spent on our staff in both reviewing uh u and as
well there is also the administration aspect for enforcement. We do have the option of course when we have a cup to come before us to negotiate on behalf of the residents and behalf of the city to to allow or ask for things in return. um
because obviously most of these cups are are uh for profit. They're they're not not for profit. Um with that being said, I wanted to put out there are there another tool um other than negotiating that we can we can put out there. I
don't know if from a fee study standpoint if any of the cup items were um added into the permit itself was added into the fee study. City manager. You mean the application for the
condition application for that? Yes. Currently, do we charge anything for an applicant for a cup? I I see uh assistant city manager coming forward or community development director. I don't know if either one of
you know the answer to that. I don't know if we currently charge. What I can say is if we do currently charge and it's included in the fee study. So, we basically submitted our our schedule of fees. So, anything that that we currently charge, they would evaluate. Uh, and then anything that other communities are charging, they're
going to evaluate if we should be charging, if that makes sense. But I don't know the answer to the question if we currently charge. I don't know if Laura knows the answer to that. If not, we can get you that answer. But, yeah, I I I would like to know that. It's $500. Yeah. Okay. Just being that
Yeah. that amount and that goes for the administration as well as I mean we're looking at items such as uh you know keeping a code enforcement on staff after hours things to that effect that totally benefit a um applicant and where
the residents are paying for that and if we're hiring more to the code enforcement if we're paying overtime if we're doing any of that. It's just something I wanted to talk about to get everybody's input what they thought on that in regards to it being just another tool and I'm glad to see I I'm I'm
hoping it is part of the of the study. Yeah. And thank you for that, Commissioner. So, if we do charge and they would look at it, they'd benchmark it on other communities to see if we're in line with other communities. Having said that, when we bring the entire fee schedule to you all, you all can make make changes as you deem appropriate as
well before we before we approve the new uh fee study. plenty of opportunities. Thank you, sir. I I think I do remember seeing something about 500, but I don't I mean, we don't have to talk about fees, but to review the fees definitely, because there
should be differences between someone getting a conditional use for uh closure of streets or something, you know, versus a a larger conditional use application that takes more time in processing and so forth. Um, but just to be fair because I'm not and maybe you
can give us a status because I know we did bring this up about the amount of CPS once they're approved and even when a new when one comes back to us like the second time around like the review how did it go last year? did we have any issues? You know, like how do we measure
it versus just like, oh yeah, we did disclosure and it but we we just approve it without really knowing the evaluation of that cup or you know, we we've obviously we've had issues with some CUPs and and at what point does it come back to the commission? Um like what's
that breaking point when when it returns to us that hey, we got to revisit this one again because they're not meeting what the commission at that time approved. Um, but I but I remember from that time when we were looking at, you know, that I said, I hope you all got the email right of that big packet um
that you were gonna the city manager was going to look into this with the team and try to figure this all out like how are we going to manage all of this because there's so much involved and they're all so different. um and how we can get even a report about the status of where they are because it's a big
list, you know, and some that haven't been revisited, some that may have expired for all we know and we're not sure and maybe should have come back to us. So all that fine, they're all so different. Um and they all had so many different conditional uses, you know,
given by the commission um and whether they need to be revisited. So I mean I don't know what to say other than I don't we haven't received a status right like where we are in that process and there was so much on our plate but I'm not trying to add something. Yeah it has been um assigned to the
community development director as well as the assistant city manager to look at one you do have the list dozens and dozens of cups that have been approved over several years. Um, so they are looking at a process to not only track
because sometimes they just expire, sometimes they have long lives of implementation involved and they're also looking at the enforcement piece. We just had a particular case we've been working on and in the case where there
is there are violations, we have been provided guidance by the city attorney that we follow our normal code enforcement processes. We go through the special magistrate process and then once there is a finding we bring it back to the commission to consider whether you
keep that cup in place. You do have the ability to remove it. So those are all parts of the process we're putting in place. Um given staff's workload, they have been prioritizing recovery. But um I will at least next meeting be able
I'll give you a timeline of when maybe they can come back and give a presentation of what does this look like from start to finish and all the way to possible code enforcement and removal of a cup condition. And I think we had said too like how how as a commission we could support you
know I don't know if you were coming up with the fees as a a way to help in the administration of it right because it's a lot of work. So, are we collecting enough in that maybe we need another FTE, right, for someone focused on just all these cups because there's there's
so much or to get a handle of is it a half a FTE or or whatever you need to manage it because we're constantly I mean, you know, it's on our agendas often we get a cup and then we're going to approve it and then the whole management of it. So, you know, maybe we
should consider that when we do get that fee if if that's what that's what I'm talking Yeah. in regards to the fee being able to support the the administration of that cup instead of it being, you know, again falling onto the residents to pay the premium of that.
Yes. Laura Canary, community development director. You bring up a very good point and we in the meeting that we had a week or so ago with the fee study consultants. You know, one of the things that we've been looking extensively at is, you know, not just the initial fee, but what does that look like if there's a second review, a third review, as you
can imagine, some are so much more complicated and take, you know, weeks or months of staff time versus a quick one. And when we look at the fee structure, it doesn't really differentiate between those. But one thing that we didn't get into is that second component of the administration after the fact and as
we've been talking about whether it's a cost recovery or pass through you know onto the applicant however that looks I think that's something very important to keep in mind that it doesn't just stop at the point of now they have the cup that administrative cost after the fact is something that we need to be
factoring in as well. So thank you. Thank you. And you had a second item. I had a second another one I had received and I'm sure you all did a a couple of a few should I say um emails uh regarding SB
180 but um I wanted to bring that up but I wanted to more so talk about um I believe uh the city manager was going to um also bring up our um situation with our chloride levels. So, I'll let her talk
about that first and then I will go into the other aspect of that. Okay. Thank you. Madame clerk, can you pull up that um the chart I sent? Is that possible?
I hope I sent it to you. Hang on. Oh, you don't? Okay. Um can we send it to Ryan? Well, I can put it on the overhead if you want me. I'll take it down there. Yes. So, in front of you, you have a chart
that was provided to us by the city of St. Petersburg and for the public's information in case uh just for the record our the city of St. Pete Beach is responsible for the um collection system
of the sewer. So that's the pipes, the pumps and the um large uh distribution pipe that goes um underwater to the treatment plant. And on August 28th, staff met with the city of St. Peterburg
city administrator Robert Durtis and public works administrator Claude Tankersley to discuss the elevated chloride levels entering St. Petersburg Northwest water reclamation facility from St. Pete Beach's water wastewater
collection system. And as you can see on this uh chart, the chloride levels started to trend upwards in 2018 and by 2021 we were exceeding the
chloride levels that we are allowed contractually from St. Pete treatment system. So the dotted line is the level that we're allowed to um send over their way and then the solid red line are the
actual levels uh right now of the chloride that is uh being sent over. So these um elevated chloride levels reduce St. Petersburg's ability to produce reclaimed water for their customers.
They believe uh the likely cause of the elevated chloride is saltwater intrusion through inflow and infiltration otherwise known as ini. A prior study completed in 2016 found that much of the city's collection system pipes and ma
manholes were compromised and in need of repair. So we're almost in 2026 now. We um 10 years later we are in the process of doing a complete review of our sewer system. So that involves um using
cameras to go through each of the lateral lines to see where those compromises are. Exactly. So in response, the city um has developed a pretty aggressive wastewater capital improvement plan that you just approved to try to begin to address INI.
It's not fully funded. Um, we've also established bi-weekly coordination meetings with the city of St. Petersburg's counterparts so that our engineering teams to work with us together to monitor system conditions, share data, and come to an agreement on
a timely approach to how we could solve this problem. Uh we remain committed to making the necessary investments to the wastewater system and we are also um committed to keeping a positive regional partnership
with St. Petersburg. In preparation to give you a comprehensive overview of this problem and the solve for it, uh Camden Mills, the public service director will provide a very comprehensive presentation at our next
meeting in September. This was just to give you a frame of the problem and to see um how these chloride levels have essentially quadrupled um in the last several years. So with that we will be
bringing forward more information and hopefully well and some solutions. So in anticipation of that presentation would you mind jotting down a couple of questions to be answered at that meeting? Yes. Um, I've been here two and a half years.
Some of you have been here two years almost. Some of you a month, one of you a year. Um, and this is the first I've seen of this report, unless you guys have seen it before. I certainly
haven't. And so I'm and I know Camden is new in his position as well. I'm assuming that the city of St. Petersburg has been bringing this to this to our attention every year, if not more frequently. So, I would like to know, you know, when did we find out about
this? When did they tell us about it? Um, I'm I'm shocked at the height of the levels that no one said anything about it, but up until this point, again, understanding that city manager and new public works director are brand new in
their positions or relatively new. Um, so I think that would be good information to have. You know, again, why were why why were we not made aware of this sooner so we can take proactive steps much much sooner because now we're at
a very very high level. So, I appreciate that the city of St. Petersburg is willing to work with us on this. Um, and I appreciate the fact that the staff has already laid out an action plan, including putting into our budget so that we can make sure we address these issues going forward. Um, and the the
reason for looking backwards is to make sure that we don't have the same problem in the future again. I I would add to that. I would add add to how long is the fix how long does this fix going to take?
because we're talking about anywhere from cracked pipes to broken pipes all across the city. We're talking about them at homeowners. Everybody who's been here a long time and lived in Florida knows of Orangeburg and we're talking
about the stress that the the recent storms put on everything. You have anything that's collapsed underneath, it's going to put pressure on a pipe if it doesn't have any support and it's going to break. We've got an old system. It's nothing new to anybody who's been here a long time, but um this this is
critical. Um and it's not going to be it's another thing that's not going to be cheap. And I just want every resident to know that this is not going to be cheap either. We've got a lot of things on our plate that are not cheap.
Um, which brings me because of this information and because I think everybody from a resident standpoint realizes that there's a lot of clogged storm drains. I I see I see flooding cick fixes all
the time. Um, so we're still working on that, I know, and we're behind behind on that project as well. Um, so with those two with with both the sewer in light of the sewer with the INI problem and in light
of our storm water situation, um, and in light of SP 180, I'm just bringing up this for a topic of conversation in regards to what other cities are doing such as Edgewater and Manatee.
Um because right now as we read SB80, our hands are tied as a city to do anything to to to do anything to try to help finance this outside and asking for greater impact fees asking for more from
any sort of development. And that begs the question, are are we ready for development in this city? When we look at our sewer and we look at our storm water, there are some cities that are are, you know, signing up uh joining uh
the lawsuit, you know, against uh to to appeal SB80. But there's also cities that are turning around and saying, and I don't know what the legal um plan is for them, but they're turning around and they're ignoring SB80
and they're going ahead and doing moratoriums and because as we can see here, we have a lot of infrastructure failure and a lot of infrastructure problem. And
the and it questions whether not capacity, it's questioning whether we can just even run additional density through our city through our sewers. I think it does one more thing which is
to me it calls into question every cup we've approved for development in the last two three years because this problem that was identified on that number from St. Petersburg. So if our public works director and if our city staff had that information, if
the developers had this information, how do we get reports that say everything is 100% hunky dory. You have all we kept hearing this over and over again. You have all the capacity you could ever handle. And by the by the looks of that, it it's
almost like half of our water is salt water, which means our sewer systems are not doing what they're supposed to be. They're compromised. And what is the um what is the uh if we don't get this fixed in time for
St. Petersburg, hopefully they continue to want to, you know, to work with us. I mean, the the other option for them is to do what with us? To drop us? Would they drop us? I mean, and then where else would we go?
[Applause] So, my understanding is that they can't just shut the pipe off. Good. That would be an environmental disaster.
They can hold us to our contract provisions. So if we are not meeting our contract provisions and they're causing them some harm, for example, loss of revenue,
they could take illegal action on a breach of contract. They are not they are being very good partners right now and we're seeking to also be good
partners to try to get a remedy that they agree with on timing and um appropriate investment. And adding to the list of questions would be
who does the level readings? Is that a responsibility to St. Pete to us? Okay. So, they I'm assuming they have measurements at the exact inflow area and they run tests
regularly, probably daily. I just just want to see how we can get ahead of things and and and be proactive instead of unfortunately it seems like a lot of what we have to deal with is all
reactive. these days. Um, but I I will bring up the dreaded M-word again, uh, moratorum, whether this actually I mean calls for a moratorum on on what we're doing here on this beach.
Do we have the ability and and I'm I'm I'm sure we'll we'll learn more about it when Camden gives us his presentation, but but one of the things that I'd also like to know is if we have the ability to monitor those chloride levels ourselves, you know, like if we have an ability to monitor those at the pump
stations so that we can so that we can, you know, further track down use that information to further track down if there's a specific part of the island that has more problems than others. you know, is it is it is it little bits of infiltration in every single pipe on the
beach or is it, you know, one major spot that's broken apart? You know, I think I think that that sort of information is um is going to be what we need to be able to have a further conversation about how big of a problem it is, right? Well, the TV project which is happening
in the next 3 to four months, we're going to do the entire system. That will uncover every single breach in the system. As far as testing, I'd need Camden to tell me whether we'd have the ability to test it at each pump station because if we only did it at the main pump station,
that's the same exact water that's leaving the island, right? So, that wouldn't give us any information. But um yes, he's saying we could actually test at each pump station or lift station. We have 20, right? Plus lift stations. I imagine it's a chemical kit, so it
can't be that expensive to test ourselves, right? Like our pool, something similar. Okay. Um, so just I wanted to bring that up because I think in all transparency the residents and everybody living out here needs to know
this that this is another critical item that has to get addressed. Um and it uh deserves a lot of thought on to to well and I think this is important information to know because any of the projects that have been approved in the
past they still have to go through a concurrency evaluation that would require that the sewer system be adequate at the time of their building permit issuance. at which point if they want to continue with the project they would have to be willing to pay to
whatever it takes to make the system handle what they're adding to it. Correct. So um so I think we have some built-in safeguards there. Next item for discussion, it is Commissioner Marriott with Setbacks.
Yeah. So, I wanted to bring this up um because I know at the last board of adjustment meeting, there were a couple of cases before the board of adjustment where people were asking for variances for stairs in the setback. Um and um and so I think that uh this might be
something that we want to look at um before the board of adjustment gets flooded with six six of these a month as more people are elevating their houses and building new houses. Um, and I think that the board of adjustment is is um
I'm sure as they have been instructed by the city attorney and and as is correct that particularly when somebody is building new construction um you should be building to the codes and that um you know unless there's some
I know you've explained it before about you know if the if the setbacks are such that they're overlapping each other and you literally can't put a building on the lot then that's a case for a variance but but Otherwise, it's very difficult to justify a variance for new construction. But the setbacks that we
have um on all of our lots were mostly uh you know arrived at when people were building houses on the ground and and weren't putting staircases to them. And so in the interest of of uh people being able to have kind of thoughtfully
designed houses with a very welcoming front porch with stairs going up to the front porch, which I think is something that uh most people would my my my impression is that a lot of people think that that's a nice way to have a neighborhood where where the fronts of the houses look very welcoming versus
looking like a fortress where you have to get through a gate and go to the back before you can find the stairs. Um it might be something that we need to look at. And so I didn't know if the rest of the commission felt like that was a a worthwhile thing to look at as people
are, you know, I think we're up to what, 200 demo permits in the city so far or something like that, you know, and we're about to have several hundred new houses built. Um, you know, should should we be looking at at what what what are the options that
we're going to give people for stairs? I would most definitely agree. I think that, you know, we've been we allowed that for um non-conforming. If you're raising your house, and we gave we were gracious on that. I think we should offer that uh
as well. Um within reason. Again, within reason being a new construction, you can, but again, I think it's got to follow some of the the normal variance rules. I mean, an odd shaped piece of property, um you know, you're not building everything else out. We're
talking strictly from a stairwell standpoint and if it's not over, I think we need to look at it from at least a stairwell standpoint. Again, we weren't talking about raising everything out here before and now we're looking at and we're looking at people that are
really trying to do the right thing. Support the community, stay in the community, be a good neighbor. Um I I think we need to to maybe be a little at least look at the code, see what see what we can make an adjustment wise if we need to. Yeah. or or you know, I I I know that
personally I would be very interested in in hearing what our planning team thinks about, you know, what what what are some reasonable ways to to alter the code perhaps for for staircases and the setbacks, whether you change the setback just for stairs but not for a building
or, you know, allow some percentage of a staircase to extend into the into the setback or whether you take into account how big the the right of way is on any given piece of property. You know, I know in my neighborhood the the kind of the first 15 feet of most people's front yard is city rideway and then you have a
20 foot setback. So, you know, the stairs are a long ways away from the street. Um, and and if there's any if there's any creative ways to to kind of fix that problem without just, you know, wholesale going, well,
you know, do whatever you want or or or putting the board of adjustment in a position of having to go well outside the bounds of what what they should be allowing. I I would say it depends when you were when you were saying if it's a new build, you know, and I'll give myself as
a personal example because I remodeled my home before the storm. Um, and I had an issue with the staircase because of the limited in in the setback and where it can be placed and the rightway and all. So, we had to get very creative without having to go to the board of adjustment. I could have opted to go to
the board of adjustment and asked for a variance, but um, you know, the architect and the designer, they they got creative and we figured it out to be able to get that staircase in the front corner, not in the middle, you know, of the home. Um, because it was not a new build, it was a remodel. So maybe it's
setting like you said if you're rebuilding completely then um I would say it would be different then versus someone who's trying to add more or squish you know I've heard some of the board of adjustment meetings and I could hear the frustration in a couple of the of the
people serving on the board as you know I wish you would have just designed it because it's a new bill. Why why do we have to give you a variance if this is a complete new bill and just build to the code? Um, so there was a couple of cases not too long ago that I heard that they
said something like that. Um, so I do agree we got to look at the land development code, but we have to be careful as to, you know, what are we looking at what that neighborhood would look like because then you would have staircases right up to the rideway, you know, or right into someone's because
the case for me was I couldn't go into my neighbor's setback or too close, you know, they they don't want that staircase right next to their home. Um and there's other things in the land development code that I think needs to be looked at especially with the opportunities that we have um
the the fill and I know I've meant asked this um and a couple of people in some of our meetings um in the neighborhood who are rebuilding in the lowerlying areas of our city and can't fill and I don't know the exact number above the crown of the center of the building you
can add more soil but they wish they could. we're flooding and now we have an opportunity. You're rebuilding brand new and you could fill the home and we're we're missing those opportunities especially in some of the lowerlying areas of of our city. So, I do believe
we need to look at the codes. Um but I think well I think and I hope that the the staff have been um I know they've heard these comments from some of the neighborhood meetings that we've had when people have asked why can't we change it and it's true. Why can't we change it? We we should,
but we shouldn't go too slow because all these permits are coming in now. Yeah. You know, well, and I think part of the part of the issue with the setbacks and with stairs is that you go, well, if you're if you're designing from scratch, you can you can meet the setbacks and and you can absolutely. Um, but I think it's
what are what are the setbacks incentivizing people to do, right? And so if you if you want to rebuild a house that's more or less the same size house you had before, you can't also fit stairs in, you know? So if you if you had a 1300 foot house and you want to
put a 1300 foot house back on there, you go, "Well, I can only do that if I don't have stairs. So now I'm going to have to have a 1100 foot house." Um or I have to go two stories. But then we also have a lot of people who are like, man, I I don't want to I don't want to I don't want to live in a place where there's
these, you know, threetory, you know, huge houses towering over, you know, the little house next door. And so I think having a little bit of flexibility particularly on the stairs in the setback might encourage help encourage people who just want to put back a modest singlestory house that's elevated
to do just that without feeling like well if I have to design to these setbacks that aren't very workable for the size of house that I'm trying to build which is the same as what was there I either have to go two stories or I have to build a much smaller house. And so so that's where that's where I
think the the issue with the stairs starts to become a little trickier. I mean I guess I would ask the city like what what's the process like? I mean we want this to move faster. Obviously people have permits and people are asking but I know it's work right. It's
a lot of work and and how do we go about it? Like I don't know the comments that the permitting office is receiving. you know what people are requesting and then what we need to do as a commission to help the residents move this along for them. So the process we're trying to follow
for ordinance changes is that we bring you a presentation first so that you can give us feedback on what you really would like to see in the ordinance change and then we would bring back a first reading that would attempt to capture that. As far as timing, I just would want to hear maybe a sense of
urgency from you so that I could talk to the staff and see how we rep prioritize what's on their plate and possibly I mean we have a lot in the queue right now on ordinances. So, it just depends on what your sense of urgency is.
I don't know. Or is it a is it a board of adjustment except for the landfill? I mean, I don't know if that's a board of, you know, being able to do something like that through board of adjustment, but like the step for staircase feedback from planning board, if you wanted a planning advisory board and then to this
council, you'd be amending the code. Even if you're to amend variance criteria, that still comes here. probably you're looking at some limited reasonable exemption for stairs in the front setback which Brandon and staff could draft up
some diagrams and then you could choose and then we would draft into an ordinance format then that would be adopted into the land development code and then if you complied with that code then you wouldn't need a variance to go to the board of adjustment.
So should it be something that I mean you brought up a good point the planning board like to have if this is a task that they could advise if within a time frame I know you said I don't know you said four how many um demolishing permits I mean there's a bunch there's yeah
we have over a hundred we're projecting over 200 yeah I think we've had this issue six times already yes yeah I think it's it's it is a repeat put it to the front so is this something that the staff could come back with their present
presentation in the next 30 60 days. What's a reasonable Oh, Laura's shaking her head. Yes. Which one of those? 30 or 60. Okay. Okay. And we can track right to you or
Yeah. If you add the planning board, that adds another layer. There's that we because of the urgency. I just the initial presentation early October would be great. Yeah. Okay. And then we can also at least um at the next planning board meeting at least start to give them a heads up and
start that discussion with them that it's going to be coming before them. But yeah, I think the urgency is there for sure. If there's a way too because I knew this was also for non-conforming because we had the non-conforming and non-conforming still had to go get a variance anyway, right? Don't forget that. So, you know, when
you're board of adjustment, you got to is this a non-complianing elevating or is this, you know, so something that might help with both and make it a lot easier for everybody. Is this something that would be
there's an option for a temporary like we did with AC's and some of the other things so that it's specifically to an emergency ordinance as you're saying might be nice. not necessarily an emergency ordinance, but specifically to hurricane impacted homes, for
example, rather than building new on the vacant lot. That's something that we would bring back because we we're looking at an incentive for somebody to rebuild a hurricane impacted home that's sub that
experienced substantial damage, right? not just come down and tear down all of our homes, right? We could bring an emergency ordinance in October. We'll we would do our best to capture what you said today
and then we can still do that. We can still the presentation. We can still do the presentation so that we can get input and then first and second reading. Yeah. I think that's a good Okay. Good compromise. Yeah. Okay. Next we have reports. City clerk.
I have nothing to report this evening. City manager. I uh have two additional reports. Just wanted to let everyone know that we have no uh change in status on the public's project. They still are reviewing uh
their options and they have said they're hoping in the next month or so they would have an update and keep us posted on the progress. Also, u announcement again on the UPM beach portion of the
emergency beach reourishment project. It is still scheduled to begin on September 15th with the construction expected to last approximately one month. They will be placing about 66,000 cubic yards of sand along 1,900
feet of shoreline. Please note that dune construction is not included in this effort. That's the end of my report. Thank you, city attorney. Um just one thing, uh if you remember, we adopted a nuisance abatement
ordinance a few months ago. Um we had a first successful instance the house in Mangrove. um has been cleaned up at 19173rd Avenue. I'll put a picture up. Mhm. We want to thank the U property owners
and tenants there as well. We were just about to go in that day on a Monday and with our nuisance contractors and clean the site and when we arrived on Monday morning uh the site was clean and they were in compliance. So it's a success
story uh that we have from that um nuisance abatement code revision. So we're ready to um proceed with other properties. This is the one of the first ones that have come through. I' I'd like to thank the VO law form for coming up
with the the nuisance ordinance and being able to push that forward because without that we were stagnant. Nothing was happening. Um so without you guys kind of stepping in and pushing that and showing showing us the way.
Um thank you. Um it was it's a it's a much prettier fun thing to draft too and then see it implementing was even more gratifying. So, thank you, sir. District 4, I briefly mentioned at the last commission meeting that uh property values were going down, others were
going up and things like that. I was able to find a point of contact at the Panalis County Appraisers Office. I've passed that person on to uh Miss uh Devin Schmidt, our finance director, so that hopefully uh we can get a workshop or at least a community advisory out to
just get people better informed on uh what it is that the uh county is doing with those properties. That's all I've gone. Thank you. District 3. Um just some community meetings. Um Bel Vista October 9th at 7 PM um at the Triangle Park. And then the Donses
Property Owners Corporation wanted to invite I mean it's the city. It's their celebration but citywide invite um 100th anniversary on November 2nd at the Donsar Hotel. If you go to their website dcpocc.org you would see that um invite there. So,
anybody's welcome. Thank you. District two, um just that I do have another um community meeting or not community meeting, but my library hours which will be uh this month in two weeks. So, that
will be on the following Tuesday. Sorry, I'm losing track of my weeks here. So, that is on the 16th over at the library 5 to 5:45. Thank you, District One. Nothing to report.
Thank you. Uh for those of you anxiously awaiting cooler weather and the uh fall concert series is starting up again. Uh so start looking for that over here at Haram Park with live music and our firefighters are out there all the time. Burgers and hot dogs and and other
vendors. So make sure to check that out. Uh and also I will be attending the next commission meeting remotely. It is my annual wedding anniversary. So, um, so we'll be out of town for that.
Thank you. With that, we are adjourned.