e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e all all right call the meeting to order roll call chair Brill here Vice chair Moser here board member James here board member
Monera board member mccristal board member Sherer here and board member Wayan all right Pledge of Allegiance I pledge ALG to the flag the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation God
indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right uh can I get a motion for approval of the agenda motion to approve second all in favor I I I opposed okay
um the approval of the uh February 4th crb minutes can I get a motion move to approve the minutes second all in favor I I opposed all right okay uh comments from the public
on non-agenda related items I have Miss Betty [Music] Brinkley welcome you are the public you are good evening Betty Brinkley 9:45 Southeast nasau Avenue
Stewart um I just want to um an experience I had today with the City utility thing excellently my son took over paying my bill water bill in November he
started working so come to find out I had my water turn off this morning I'm going there to going to cook my lunch no water so I rest up here to pay my bill so I got up here they
wanted last month Bill late fee and something else and connected plus the month coming up which the month just came in so I'm going have to pay in order I can pay the
131 but I still won't get my water cut on but that's the bill that's behind but I had to pay the $257 before I can get my water turn on why are you doing why the city of stood doing people like that I know they doing
people like that they have a hard time P what it is then you going to double it up like that that just don't seem you know fair to the people that having these issues it's hard time and then about the C money allegedly and I
referred to the mayor you donate G uh help the church I don't know if that true that's the rumors going around and stuff but I can't get nothing that to do uh improve my lawn get all the rocks and stuff what they brought in rugs all in
my yard what they dumped in there I'm digging up trying to plant stuff but uh I can't get nothing worth it helped me out with that I don't know what to how if that true but that was the rumors going around somebody some church like that but I don't think that's fair but
then put some of the money over and uh e do it thank you thank you appreciate it um any other uh anybody uh any comments from the board members uh I guess we
start down here with Fred um no comments at this time um sister Brinkley we will look into it um I don't know the procedure for the water bill and why the charges were they are but I will look into it for
you yeah I that I had that happen to me too so I understand exactly what you're talking about but and and I would encourage because we have limited influence on that that you come to the next Commission meeting and make a
similar comment thank you okay sorry um go this side clay uh no comments from my side okay uh just one I was thinking about this today um I'm on the Moo's bicycle and
pedestrian committee and before the meeting I don't know maybe like five or six days before they'll send a reminder email and they'll also send the agenda packet and I think that would be really nice for us to get as well just so that we're not digging around on the city's website to get the agenda and and the
reminders nice too um these are a little bit easier for me to remember i' often forget the ones for the bpack and so getting that email um helps so just a suggestion you don't receive the emails that we send out for the agenda no okay
for these meetings yeah you don't receive agenda packet I'll look into it because we always send one out to your city email and it does have a forward to your personal email yeah I mean I'm getting emails if people are like emailing my
account to reach out to me but I haven't gotten any of those um since you've started yeah since I've started okay that's awesome that everyone else is getting up never mind you didn't know you were the mushroom on the right I'll look into it for your email um
yeah no now that is and that's very helpful uh because you know I always I'm always trying to find out when what the heck is what are we doing this yeah most of the time I don't know but anyway um okay uh I just I just want to U make
one General comment um I'm really excited about this board I appreciate you know before some of the the comments relative to the makeup of the board and and and the strength of the board and I do think it's good and I appreciate everybody's efforts here and I really do
want us to have a good year and I want us to learn so that we can help the community learn so I'm I'm excited about the presentation and and figuring out where you're at because I think all of us seem to have an open mind to what's
going on you know we just want to make sure everybody's getting what they want the way they want it and that the public is being heard so I think it's really good and I'm I'm glad you guys are here and we're we're doing this so so anyway that's all I had um we start with uh the
presentation for the community redevelopment agency annual report thank you panal Gandhi saas C director for the record um this is a TP uh this is a report that we typically prepare around this time of the year uh because we have to submit this annual report with all
the CRA activities and financial statement to the state by March 31st it'll go to the CRA board end of this month we also publish in the newspaper that this this report is available uh for public to uh review um and and see
what the what C is working on and once the report is approved by the CRA uh we'll submit it to the state and other taxing authorities um the report was provided in your annual in your agenda package if you want to follow along um I'm just
going to briefly walk you through it and then also um some of the projects we're working on uh this this is a table of content it outlines the sections in the report uh we have uh also a section um to demonstrate that we are in compliance
with Florida statute's requirements uh for the annual report and our mission statement uh this section right here describes uh that the CRA was originally created in 1986 uh and it was reestablished and the
trust fund was created in 1998 which is the base year for calculating our uh tax increment financing and then we expanded the CRA in 2002 to include East Stewart neighborhood uh further expanded in 2006 to include the public safety building
and and um then we expanded in 2015 uh and6 um to include the additional 486 Acres of uh contiguous property so um that makes up our CRA it's one CRA it's not different cras and we have one one
Tiff Revenue um to contribute throughout the CRA uh we also amended the CRA plan uh from time to time uh and it was last amended and adopted by the CRA board last year um it really serves as a guide uh for implementing specific projects
that are necessary for revitalization uh this section here describes the C boundary and how the tax increment financing Works uh it talks about the expansion 2002 2006 and 2015 and the increment tax revenue from
those base years and what it is uh in what it was in 2023 yes could you could you expand on that section A little bit just so we understand you know what that's all about and what that means yeah so our CRA was established um reestablished and
the Tiff Revenue was uh the trust fund was created in 1998 so the the original boundary uh of the CRA um there is a a base value that was locked in in 1998 and so in uh 1998 um that that core
area um the value was about 104 million and um in 2024 uh the value is about 542 million so you can see that the values of properties have gone up from base year
to 2024 and we look at we look at that for all the different areas that were expanded so in 2002 when we brought in East Stewart into the CRA um the value was about 6.9 million and today it's
about 13.9 million uh again the public safety building that's just um it's a public uh public building so that doesn't have any value um and then um in 20 and when we expanded the boundary in 2015 uh for that area it was 187 million
and today it's 329 million so you can see that the values have gone up since um since uh the CRA was expanded and you can see the difference between the base and today's value now just another couple quick questions I understand that
these this is a trust fund type Arrangement right so it's a fund accounting situation where you have trust funds and those funds are funded you can't you can't take money from one fund and put it in in general can't take money from the CRA trust fund and put it into the city's general fund right right
yes so it's a trust fund just to use it within the CR we have to use it in here and back about what was it 10 or 15 years ago 12 years ago um there was a they actually had employees within the funds right and then they they stripped
them out I forget who that was it was either Paul or it might have been um you mean salaries you mean well the trust fund was and maybe Lee you know uh but the trust fund was a or the trust account Arrangement the trusts
they actually functioned almost like separate entities they had personnel and all that exactly but at some point we took the Personnel component out of that right so it it just became just funding the projects yeah yeah and there was no there was no Personnel issues and right
I think you know I I think we probably might want to look at that again at some point I'm just you know suggesting that it's something that because it kind of ties our hands in terms of some of the things that we might be able to do to support the city um that we can't do you
know with just uh funding uh anyway I just mentioned that I there was a lot of discussion at the time when it happened and it it kind of just went through but I'm not sure everybody really understood what happened then and um you know I I know that when we did before we did that
uh it helped us get through the recession that we were we had in the in uh 20 2007 28 2009 we only have two staff in the CR is Jordan and I uh prior to that when they
were funding salaries and any um uh any uh you know benefits and things that comes out of uh Tiff Revenue uh they had more staff they had four to five people that they were funding so that's why they probably decided that it was all going to be funded through General funds
and then they were just going to focus on um projects with the Tiff Revenue uh but at that time also the Tiff Revenue was not as large as it is today so to support the the operation of the CRA you're only funding two salaries right
but back again back in I think it was 2009 2010 we were struggling to fund police um in in during that recession and I remember we we actually uh we actually had two police officers I think
that were assigned within the C were included in the cra's budget yeah that was probably before you know before but I know that's how we were able to fund that now they had to they had to be in the CRA so they patrolled in the CRA but you know if
they got an emergency call they could leave so it really it helped us out through a tough time I'm just saying you know we don't seem to have those options as much now I'm just not sure why we might want to look at that yeah we're not funding any police officers or any of that with the know we can't now it's
it's not AOW well or is it would the board just take action you would just create it you would say well we want to we want to have a couple police in the CRA you have the funds and you would just say just go do it well the way that they restructured I think is that um you
can't do that because the they eliminated Personnel from the CR from the CR two though we still have two right well yes they're directly yes they're directly in in the CRA to manage but the other concept you know the other
portion of it they they kind of eliminated I I think is what happened they eliminated any of those employees so you know it it was um it kind of a little bit takes away because there are people that work in the CRA and that work outside the C that would be
misusing the Tiff because now you're funding salary for a police officer that's not full-time just working in the C they're also going outside of the CRA so that would probably not be eligible if they split but there were I mean we had those funded in the past and um and
I know we we didn't do anything illegal but it we had uh now they did they they patrolled we had two officers downtown patrolling the downtown district but again emergencies they could go on call so it it helped to have them here no
matter where the call was so I'm not I'm just saying there's some other things like that that we may want to look at but I'm sorry go ahead I I didn't mean to we did fund for the parking um system uh for ticketing uh in downtown I think
we funded about 20 $30,000 but that is paying for itself like so if we wanted to hire somebody within the CRA to manage the the parking um the the revenue that we're generating through parking management system could just pay
for for those positions to help with the parking Management in downtown so it is directly related okay so we have other source of Revenue that could pay for that not just you know Tiff um so some of U major um
accomplishments since uh the CR was established um it's in your report uh we started the tram program we made improvements to Colorado uh Colorado Avenue uh Kindred Johnson Avenue also was a major streetscape improvements we did the
green bike Lanes uh we started a lot of the incentive programs uh Fraser cre streetscape improvements um acquisition of the triangle property which is the zul uh development and then uh recently we acquired the the Willie Gary property
I'm just highlighting some major uh accomplishments but it's in your report if you wanted to um dive more into it uh some uh we wanted to also acknowledge the CRA board members and the meetings we held in 2024 uh again and accom uh acknowledging
the crb members and brief description of their role and responsibilities and um all the crb meetings held in fiscal year 2024 uh this page introduces CRA staff and their background and we acknowledge the city manager City attorney and all
the department heads who we work closely with on all of our projects um so this next section describes all the C projects and more specifically all the accomplishments in fiscal year 2024 um as you know we have a business Improvement reimbursement program which
is uh we typically refer to it as burp um which is a a program that helps to uh pay for uh improvements to commercial properties just for exterior improvements it is a matching Grant all of our funding all of our grants are
matching Grant um so we don't do handout it has to be matched with with uh from the property owner um so we pay up to 50% of the total project cost up to $10,000 in Grant uh in 2024 we funded four applications through this program
uh with a total Award of about $37,000 and the program encourages Property Owners to invest their own money um for the improvements and in 2024 they invested approximately $44,000 of their own money to fund
projects in fiscal year 2024 um next we have have the commercial landscape Improvement grant program uh this was just initiated last year to encourage commercial properties to upgrade landscaping and provide shade trees along the perimeter of their
property uh parking lot and also just improve the appearance of the of the property and bring them into compliance with the Land Development code um this is again a matching Grant uh where we reimburse 50% of the total project cost up to
$5,000 uh for any El landscape improvements um which has to include irrigation system uh last year the board uh allocated $25,000 for this program uh we've had uh a lot of interest we just haven't had any applications yet uh we
just started promoting the program in January of this year uh and it it is first come first sered so um you know uh as soon as we get applications we'll bring that to the board for review and approval there's no deadline with this application as long as we have funding
available can I ask how that's being advertised um Jordan who is our marketing uh and program manager uh she does it on social media um Facebook um did you want to speak on that what else do you
do so hi Jordan pingston C program manager for the record um so in partnership with Misty girton who is our marketing um Outreach coordinator for the city we do all of our electronic newsletters they've been in every month since the program has been established
we do um actual Flyers that our neighborhood services or or code enforcers go in and distribute as well if they think a commercial property might be in need of something like that um there is also postcards sent out to
all the businesses within the CRA limits um and social media Outlets so that's what we've done so far okay thanks I think the most effective is when we work with the code enforcement um to really promote the program when they see some issues and they can
directly give them the Flyers and encourage them to apply for the program yeah yeah um we also have a mural matching grant program uh where we uh reimburse uh 50% up to $3,000 last year we had three applications uh one mural
was already was installed uh in East Stewart on mccardy building that project is completed the second mural will be installed at 11 Southeast Oola Street in downtown um it shows uh old Colorado Inn then and now uh that one is in working
progress uh I did see some um I did see portion of it being completed so we hope it by summer it will be completed and the third mural will be installed in downtown Publix um as you're coming uh down on on Palm Beach Road you'll be able Palm City Road you'll be able to
see this mural um it'll be showcasing like uh uh manatees Pelicans Turtles and other sea life and we wanted to honor or the artist wanted to honor the Environmental Science Center which has been serving the community since 1974 we have a residential facade
Improvement grant program uh this is again an incentive program to make exterior improvements through Residential Properties uh we pay 50% of the total cost up to $500 an additional $500 for exterior paint um so as Miss Brinkley mentioned she needed some
assistance so we do have a program it is again it's it's a matching program just like any of our other program uh where they do have to contribute uh a portion of their own funding uh to get to receive uh CRA funding uh for assistance
in 2024 we had um three facade Improvement program applications and six paint up program applications totaling about $4,500 in reimbursement uh we also have uh residential street tree program which we
started few years ago to increase tree canopy and residential areas within the CRA um we did dat data analysis to identify which area needed the the trees most um and we we prioritized those areas based on the tree count and um the
property owner can request a free tree in front of their uh house uh from the recommended tree list and um and the city would uh go and install those trees for the homeowner uh we typically do this around Springtime so we can take
advantage of the rainfall and maximize the chances of their survival uh since implementation of this program we've planted uh 27 trees in just the residential areas uh we're pursuing uh designation of East Stewart neighborhood on the national register of historic district
uh the application was submitted in Fall 2024 and the state is reviewing the nomination application uh they do want to have a meeting with the community so we're waiting for the state to get back to us and when they want to have that meeting uh and then uh once the state
completes the the final review um they this area Eastward will be designated as a na as a historic district and we would do a plaque uh as a celebration um and then also and then participation uh for this designation we
also launched a website to increase awareness of the rich history of East Stewart Community um also known as Lincoln Park uh because we want to preserve the historic buildings and sites um that are within this neighborhood and and and be able to
apply for grants in the future uh we also launched a new program called airs property assistant programs to help clear titles uh to properties um so that Property Owners can take advantage of some of the benefits of of having a clear title such as uh being
able to get loans um uh also apply for state and and uh federal grants uh qualify for homestead exemption uh be able to get homeowners insurance um so God forbid if there's ever hurricane they have insurance to to um make
improvements to their property and we provide assistance of up to $3,000 per property um so far we've had interest in this program uh but no applications uh when we when we did um uh analysis of how many properties there are um we
identified about 31 properties that had the had didn't have clear title um and half of those were an East stward so we want to help the property owners clear the title and and have the ownership uh and so with the
um uh I guess if there hasn't been a lot of uh interest from the owner is there a way that the program can reach out I if you got if it's direct if you have this identified and targeted then could we just directly contact them and ought to offer then you know whether it's yeah we did send out postcards directly to them
but it really will take staff to sit down and call them individually and and and talk to them about the program um so yeah I will take some staff time to to do that yeah I think you know I think that we've talked about this before and I a
big proponent of this program but but you know it's the East Stewart gets left behind in a lot of the economic development or the E economic benefit that comes during the rising markets because they can't get clear titles sometimes to their property they can't
Finance their property to do Home Improvements um you know and so I really think this program needs to is a good program and if we can get it out there I think we can really make a difference in people's lives um should I turn my light
on sure um I I may be able to assist you with getting that out I believe some of my um people have reached out to you for information yes homeowners yes so if you would get that to me and also um I don't know if I could ask sister Brinkley were
you did you get any of this information about the different grants that was available no so if we can um assist in getting that information to them I know Miss Brinkley did come U to the C office and spoke to Jordan directly and she was
informed about the program I just don't know I guess maybe she just hasn't had a CH chance to apply for it um but yes we would be happy to share that information with you so you can um talk to anybody that may be interested in E Stewart apply thank
you um and then in 202 in May 2024 during the historic preservation month we also uh dedicated historic marker for Women's Club of Stuart Clubhouse um CR is also funding uh uh Memorial Park improvements uh we're contributing
about $1 million in Tiff revenue for the construction of the outdoor Amphitheater at Memorial Park uh the improvements will include covered stage area lawn seating Landscaping lighting and other Park amenities um this is just partially
being funded through the CRA and U most of it is coming from ARA Grant and Public Works is leading this project so that's why you might not have seen a lot of a lot of um things or project progress come through this board on this
but uh this was just something that was funded um in December 20 2024 and I think it did come to the board for a budget amendment uh we fund the operation of the tram system uh the tram route was expanded to include well far Wells Fargo
Building after the city acquired the property and we use that parking lot uh as public parking after 5:00 p.m. and on weekends uh creating additional parking for downtown visitors uh we did increase ridership from that location in
2024 uh we also have advertising panels on top of the trams uh that generated about $44,000 in Revenue in 2024 and uh we also rent these out for private events that generated about $1,500 in Revenue uh we're also wrapping
the trams with bright colors and images to increase visibility and pro promote ridership uh I think we should be I think there are about seven trams we should be done wrapping all of them by summer of this year penel the tram drivers they are within the CRA or do
they get out of the CRA funds or are they out of the city funds the tram wraps no the the tram drivers oh the drivers are pay we do pay for the tram drivers yeah it's funded through the C through the C okay oh one other question we we looked at
the possibility of a water tram uh sometime back but we never got fully into it have have we done anything further on that looking at at trying to connect um water taxi you mean yeah I call it a water tram CU you know but you
know to try to connect um Indian River Plantation to downtown to limit the amount of traffic first of all that has to come over in park but also just to create some kind of a pathway through to the city and um you know an opportunity for people to you know get out on the
water I know we talked about that a couple times and I just don't know if we've pursued it at all further you know whether there's an interest in it um I know that Tiki taxi had reached out to the city to fund their
operation um to help fund some of their uh for their programming um but I don't think think the board approved that at that time uh the construction of downtown undergrounding in SEMO streetscape is underway uh we awarded the contract to barard for $8.7 million uh in October
2024 uh we received about $354,000 in FD grant for this project it it is a two-year project uh it is expected to be completed in November 2027 the Riverside Park neighborhood improvements project is also underway
it's located just north of the Oldbridge uh this is a residential and mixed use neighborhood the total project cost for for this is uh $2.5 million we receive tap Grant in the amount of $ 1.5 million for this project uh this project is
expected to be completed in summer of this year uh we also plan to make some improvements to the mini Park which is in the neighborhood uh we will add uh irrigation shade pav walkways benches decorative fence and new park signage to
improve uh the user experience uh we will start making improvements to this uh to the park soon after the Riverside Park streetscape improvements is completed we completed the design uh 30% design for MLK streetscape project um
this will include uh shared use path on both Sid of the street on street parking crosswalk midblock Plaza area for events and activities street lights uh traffic calming address some of the safety concerns at intersections which has been
brought up by by the community um that there's some um you know safety concerns specifically at these intersections because of the sight line issues and Landscaping uh we are working toward 60% design and we hope to have a meeting with the community sometimes in the next
few months to get their input on the 60% % plans uh for the guy Davis Community Park uh this is also uh we're working toward 60% design uh for this for this park uh in 20 in October 2024 the scope
of the work was amended to include the skate park design um the consultant that the city is working with um is a subcontracting with sub uh spoon Ranch uh to design the skate park uh we expect
to get some Concepts from Spawn wrench uh by the end of this month and then we'll include that that uh design as part of the 60% plans of the overall Park improvements and we hope to bring that to the to the uh joint meeting uh
in April uh so the board can uh review look at the the plans and also the cost estimates for all the different elements that's going to go in the park and uh make recommendation as to what should stay and what should be removed based Bas on the project budget um we have
about $7 million budget for this for the improvements uh Sierra has been working on the Gateway and District signage um since 2021 uh we went through multiple Concepts and surveys for feedback from the community and every time we went out for survey um the the community always
preferred uh the wave concept which is what you see in in in downtown right now uh we completed the first phase so this is a two-phase project we complet the F first phase which includes a downtown Gateway signage and also the district signs the second phase is a horizontal
Monument sign that you see um in the image on the screen um those are going on Federal Highway and caner Highway um so we they require f. permit so that's taking a little bit longer so we hope to it is in the budget this year uh we hope
to get those fop permits and go off for RFP and finish the phase to uh hopefully by U by fall this year the Dixie Highway streetscape improvements project uh this is a project from Joan Jefferson to Colorado Avenue uh we received uh
$436 in $436,000 in in tap grant for this project we did a lot of Outreach last year and presented the plans to uh various boards for feedback uh now we're going to start working towards final plans and uh start meeting the grant
deliverables which is in 25 20 2025 and 2026 and the construction is anticipated to begin in 2027 uh the board approved wrapping of the utilities box uh last year and we are working towards that um it took a
little longer because those boxes are operated and maintained by maren County so we had to amend the the maintenance agreement to include the maintenance of these wraps so that um so that that took a little bit longer but we hope to get
started on wrapping these boxes uh this month uh we applied for the cdbg housing rehab Grant back in 2022 uh to preserve uh our affordable housing stock in the city um we we are funding 11 Property Owners uh through
this program we completed four projects already five projects are expected to be completed this summer and one project is waiting for environmental clearance and the last one project is waiting for direction from Florida com Commerce
since there were some concerns um with work completed by a com contractor uh so we're working with the property owner City's consultant and Florida commerce to resolve the is resolve the issues on the on one property can I ask a little bit about
that program that's for homeowners that's for homeowners housing rehab right and not rental strictly not rental they have to own the home right okay thanks and and how does that work so how does one qualify for that they we have
we have an eligibility criteria it's it's a Federal grant so we just have to follow their eligibility criteria um you have to have a minimum of I don't exactly know the numbers like three lowincome homes um to at least me uh low
to medium household so there's a different criteria we have to meet as far as the the level the income level for these to be qualified for this grant uh we received $6.2 million in cdbg covid Grant for acquisition Demolition and uh new construction uh
for a job training center Center at 710 Southeast MLK Boulevard in East Stuart neighborhood uh we acquired the property last year for $1.6 million uh we were working towards a design last year for the new facility had public meetings uh
went through permitting process and we went out for bid in December of 2024 uh we received a bid for $6.4 million so we do have insufficient funds to award the contract so we I reached out to Florida commerce for additional
funding uh of $4 million and waiting for state to um review our proposal and make recommendation uh for additional funding to make this project a reality I'm pretty hopeful that we'll get additional funding can I ask you about this one too
sure um I think maybe the last time we had talked about this and there were some folks in the room concerned about it um there had been talk about discussing further like the idea of the business incubator and ways that the
community could use the space outside of just project lift has there been any progress with that um well I'm waiting for I just want to make sure we award the contract before we have any further discussion but um we are in and we are talking to
NAACP um to make you know to make sure that they have space in in this facility we still have to do a lease agreement with project LIF so I think the discussion will be part of that on the lease agreement to see what else we can um you know ADD office space for
different uses okay thanks uh we continue to partner with Main Street to promote our downtown uh they recently uh applied for a grant and received a grant of $225,000 to to do the nomination application to designate
our downtown um as a historic district on the national register of historic places uh even though we call it Historic downtown but it really doesn't have any formal designation or or even a local registry designation so um their
uh Main Street is actually um going through the process they hired a consultant uh to prepare the application and uh they plan to submit the application to the state this summer um the consultant is planning to make a presentation to the city commission uh
at the upcoming uh City commission meeting on Monday on um on the report that's going to be submitted to to the state um you know this designation is is really important for downtown because it will help promote downtown um increase
eligibility for any grants and of course provide some Community Pride um so we we're really excited to partner with Main Street uh for this application process um Tiff Revenue in the amount of $5.3 million was uh deposited in the CRA
trust fund for fiscal year 2024 we use the fund for activities like incentive programs tram operation uh Riverside Park neighborhood improvements allender Park improvements Gateway signages uh wraps for the trams traffic
control boxes uh and other Design Services and we have to include the financial statement of income and expenses for fiscal year 2024 um typically this doesn't uh the audit audited report doesn't come out till like May um so we've included the
UN audited version um in the report uh but as soon as we have the audited report will publish that on the website within 45 days after it's completed and that concludes my presentation for the annual report does the board have any question for
me okay any questions anybody not at this time okay um I just got a a couple statements and maybe a question or two but um first of all um I know over this
last year there was a lot of discussion about some of these grants that we're doing and I understand because the numbers are relatively small some of them we don't have control over and you
know we get drug into into things um I I think you know I would like to see the CRA you know kind of making a bigger impact than 500 bucks you know I I just those kind of things are generally money
that we're I think it's just money that we're throwing into a project for what somebody was going to do I mean paying up for $500 you you can't hardly do anything for 500 bucks you know um and uh and so I'd like us to look at this
over this next year at you know ways that we could make a bigger impact and uh keeping in mind I think we always have to keep in mind that the purpose of the CRA is to is to increase property
values within the CRA so that we get more money in the CRA and it doesn't go outside the CRA primarily to Martin County so um you know so I think although I understand that there's
these projects I I think that um you know these little ones are are a problem and even something like that the pain up program you know then let's do a neighborhood you know let let's let's make an impact let's do a whole neighb neighborhood um but the other thing I
wanted to mention for us to look at I think is uh based on one of the previous commission meetings you know it appears that um that the city is not going to fund the
bdb U uh activity this year has selected not to to do that um and you know I understand that's and that's fine I understand where they're coming from but I'm wondering if we can't do some of that activity within this within the city or within the CRA in other words
replace that 25,000 that was going out with 25,000 that's already in the CRA that we could use it to make a more aggressive pitch for local businesses to expand so that we can increase economic activity um you know I I've said all
along we we have hous we have a housing problem in in Stewart but um but a affordable housing isn't affordable unless you can afford it I mean it's all about income really and um and so and until we we can find ways to generate
new bigger jobs and new jobs and and those are out there the airport we have an airport you know in the city and and it's generating a substantial amount of jobs and you know I think maybe we can do something more to to uh you know to
help generate that and and get some benefit for the CRA so um I know that I know commission is looking at all um the private entities that were're funding so I think that'll be probably be an agenda item that they're going to be discussing
and I they're also looking at what CRA is funding yeah any you know we fund for MLK event we fund for U black Heritage so there are different events that we're funding and they're they're they're looking at everything so yeah and and
I'm I'm not saying we need to eliminate all this stuff but but I think that we're not getting the impact at the dollar level so we either need to commit or we need to to eliminate that and do something that's you know have going to have a bigger impact um because we're getting a nice return right I mean we're
getting a good return off of this money in the CRA so I think we we should continue to to do something with it we'll we'll look at the the residential uh Improvement program because that is something that I wanted to look at and see if we can increase the amount um bring different options for the board to
come consider similar to how we did the burp when we amended the program we gave you different options uh how we could fund the fund that program so we can bring something forward yeah and I think as one or two of the Commissioners said you know eventually you know it's seems like a little dollars but you know okay
it's just a little dollars there and it's a little dollars here and it's a little dollars there and the next thing you know we got $ 150,000 or $200,000 and um you know uh um as ever Durk once said a million dollars here a million dollars there pretty sure we're talking real money and
so I'm from Illinois so reference but uh but anyway I'd like to U I think that's good I think that's some things and I'm glad that we got a chance to go through this when when is the fiveyear plan up for Renewal so we're going to start
discussing that as the next item and I'll start preparing my budget in in May and it comes to the crb around um September because it has to be adopted by end of September so it'll come to crb uh and the fir you know the crb in
September and then it'll go to CRA for adoption okay but so it's good to start discussing right now so then when I prepare my budget in may I have some feedback from the boards as to what to include in my budget for for CIP right but what I was getting at is isn't it
every five years we're supposed to update our um I do every year it comes to the board every year um the CRA plan the C plan or are you talking about CIP no I'm talking about the I know that yeah I know that that comes to the city
of I'm talking about we have a fiveyear we have a five-year plan that we were supposed to be following within the CRA and and that is supposed to be updated every five years and and I'm not sure it doesn't have to be updated every five years it just has to be updated as
we identify new projects and we need to amend it to include it in the CRA plan no I'm not talking about the I think we're the the confusion is you're talking about the CIP and and projects there I'm not talking about that you're talking about C plan I'm talking about yeah there's a there's a base plan that
says this is what we want to be this is how we want to be it this is what we want to do this is what development we want and um you know it's um it doesn't have to be updated every five years what I'm saying it could be updated as we go like if we identify projects that like
as we discuss the CIP and we identify projects that's not in the CRA plan then I would bring I would amend the CRA plan to include those projects because you're not supposed to work anything outside of the C plan as long as we work within the C plan it doesn't need to be amended
okay well I think that you know based on where we're at and what's going on right now my thought and I'd like to get the other memb thoughts on it is that I think it's it's time to kind of maybe take that plan and go back to the base
roots of it and see have we changed what we want to do does is the city want to do something I'm talking about the people of the city do they want to do something different than than the group did 30 years ago we we just adopted it in
2024 we we just adopted the CRA plan it came to the crb and CRA in 2024 do you mean more of like a master plan like a community based Master planning process where you're feedback on like what what their
values are what they want yeah exactly you're supposed to have workshops and oh I think you're talking about something that development department does is are you talking about the year based you're talking about what that's related to the uh code and comp plan yeah I guess maybe
I'm talking about the comp plan but what I'm talking about is a number of years ago that has to be every seven years they have to change and that's actually jod is going to work on that this year okay well I know I guess what I'm I was getting at is that you know a number of
years ago however long it was in the in the 70s or 80s is in the 80s because I was I was here then um you know a group of people got together and said let's figure out what we want to be yeah let's figure out what kind of housing we want let's figure out what kind of businesses
we want let's see find out what we want our community to be and they got together and they hashed that out and they brought in a consultant uh D danani not everybody agreed with him and they didn't accept all his stuff but they hashed that all out right and I and I
think and then that created this path that's supposed to be we're supposed to be kind of moving down but I think now the commission maybe rightly so is saying that's not what the people here want anymore so if that's not the case
if they want something different then I think it would be appropriate for the CRA to at least start that process and have a community process to find out what do the people really want and uh you know what do the people of East
Stewart really want what do the people of Stuart really want what do the people in the CRA what do people outside the CRA that we can create that pathway again because right now the original the original pathway has changed and I don't
think you know and I'm not saying it's wrong I'm just saying it's changed and I think we need to get back to what do we want to be you know I mean I I agree with you and I've been requesting this of the commission for years now um and saying it up here as well I do think we need a
Master Plan update I don't know if that's something that happens within the CRA or if it's Citywide but um I think it needs to be consultant L and have heavy heavy uh Community input
stakeholder engagement um I haven't seen within the county or the city the level of engagement that I do as a professional and would like to see so that people really feel like they're being heard and that their values are being expressed with how we're spending
our money and and our zoning and and um and everything I I think it's probably time for an update I would agree with that I think so yeah I'm I'm really getting up trying to get up to speed on um how the decision is made and the
direction that the city is going and so I would love to get some of that information when they start the plan all over if they start the plan all over again be a part of that process I think they do that as part of the year-based amendment process because I remember we
when we did that seven years ago we went out in the community they had Workshop multiple workshops um so that kind of becomes like the guide of how the city wants to move forward and you have that in the comp plan um and and so your base will kind of give direction as to what
amendments we need to make in the comp plan to provide Direction how we want to move forward right so that's the process that's going to happen this year through the development department and that includes the CRA also yeah and I think that's good but I
I I think that an internal staff department shouldn't necessarily lead that charart no no they'll hire consultant they hired a consultant last time too right and you know and we need to make sure we got engagement by the CRA and by the city commission and
everybody else to support the plan I mean to support the effort I guess is what I'm saying I think that engagement needs to include education um it needs to be very visual so that people can understand it because I mean we went through that zip last time
we were here and that's not easy for a planner to understand let alone you know a regular old citizen so um yeah I'm I'm with you mark okay are you gonna uh P are you going to go through this next um fiveyear Capital Improvement plan presentation can we
take a break so I can go to the restroom sure all right we'll take a break for five minutes two minutes e e e e e
e e e e e e e e appreciate it um before we get into your present your second presentation here
panel uh Miss Brinkley would like to kind of finish a little bit on her uh explanation what she was going and so I I yeah gladly like to have have that I don't like to um tell a half story you know I didn't finish with the the water
bills because there was a civil line at the end and I want that everybody know um I came over here and complain about it and uh I didn't have to pay I had helped with the uh 250 uh uh dollars you know $57 so I didn't want to leave all
that out I want to tell the whole thing and just like so that's what happened I I did get some help in there thank God for that you know people that help me okay thank you we appreciate that and appreciate that uh information and and you know it's nice to know I mean we
know the city has good people and they try to help where they can't so we're we're good with that uh okay P you want to go ahead sure um so the next item is to discuss the future CIB CIP Capital Improvement priorities um for
basically year 2025 to 2030 um so at the Joint meeting uh in January the board the CRA board recommended that the crb uh review the proposed projects and make recommendation project that should be included in the CIP um so the staff will
um use the recommend Commendation um from the crb and the CRA board as a road map for planning and appropriating Tiff Revenue uh for the next several years so um next year we expect to generate about six to S million in Tiff Revenue um and
and so forth so we need we need direction from the board as to what projects uh you would like to um add to the CIP um now some of these recommendations are coming from some master plan um some iies we've done um
so it's not something that staff just U put together it is coming from some reports that we've done uh either recently or from from Master Plan um so Ula Street Extension project uh it's an extension from downtown all the way to
Flagler Place uh City Hall Redevelopment uh we've been talking about City Hall Redevelopment for many years um it's in the it's in the master plan that was developed through the Treasure Coast Regional planning Council Downtown parking garage has also been in discussion uh Southwest Ocean Boulevard
complete Street project from Federal Highway to Dixie Highway that's in the Triangle District uh master plan that was recommended uh 10 Street Community Center improvements that's in the East stward master plan uh that was recently updated uh beay pedestrian bridge again
it's in the East stward master plan uh underground Refuge uh system in downtown that's just because of um limited parking spaces uh we thought this was something this is more new item um that was in discussion with the public works
department um to kind of eliminate um the dumpsters and do the underground system uh to to a lot of more parking in Downtown uh public private partnership for affordable housing in the CRA um quet zones um that's a new item
just because it's uh because of the of right line uh we could Implement projects or improvements uh at confusion Corner sailfish Circle Florida Street and Dixie Highway and MLK Boulevard and Dixie um to make some improvements to do
quiet Zone if that's if that's what the board wants to do extension of undergrounding of overhead utilities if we want to continue doing those projects uh because it does help to uh uh to un you know remove these large poles in our
sidewalks and and provide um more pedestrian friendly Urban environment and and and more allows us to do more Landscaping so um you know that is something that that could be that we could continue in
downtown and um an undergrounding of overhead Utilities in Triangle District if we want to do some of these streetscape improvements um that is something that is recommended in the master plan um so these are some of the some of the recommendations based on
studies and plans that we've done already um here's a budget summary this shows um some of the projects that are already budgeted in fiscal year 2025 the guide Davis Community Park we have $7 million budgeted downtown undergrounding
6.9 million uh seminal streetscape 2.8 million uh Riverside Park Improvement project the total projects is $2.7 million but um I just had to budget 9 $3,000 in fiscal year 2025 for uh for
additional expenses and the CI Services Willie Gary property uh which is uh demo and new construction I have $4.3 million budgeted for that uh Southeast Dixie Highway that's a grant project uh we're getting about $450,000 in Grant for that
but that project won't be implemented in until fiscal year 2027 and MLK streets skate project that won't be implemented until 2028 as you can see in 2026 we have we don't really have any large scale projects that are identified um so
this is a good time for the board to start discussing what is it that we want to accomplish in the next four to five years based on the studies that we already have you know I understand we should be doing additional studies and master plans um but I think there are already so many recommendations that we
haven't even had a chance to implement um and and we're going to get additional Tiff Revenue um in 2026 so uh we would like the board to make some recommendations on what they would like to accomplish go ahead you you turn your switch up and also just keep in mind the
CRA plan objectives it's in the CRA plan um think about projects for economic development connectivity um you know there's a lot of connectivity missing in the CRA infrastructure improvements uh uh and also any Redevelopment support um if we want to
acquire any properties for economic development velopment so those are the some of the objectives that are already in the crra plan as you make recommendations excellent um very good panel yeah can you go back just one more yeah this is perfect
um so the this is a list of projects which have uh been vetted researched there's been lots of analysis obviously in in the deck of of information from the last couple meetings there's we can see that
there's been designers and Outreach meetings for many of these topics and so these the this is a list of projects that basically Community has already said we want this right great so now it's um it's a matter of whether I don't
know if if the if there's a priority among these but some of these um might be connected to um like for example the 10th Street Community Center improvements there's already uh activity going on there and so I guess this is on
the agenda here because it would be that that portion that is not targeted for completion yet is that correct correct yeah so that'd be like the other 40% if I remember what you were saying earlier there's like 60% planned and done we've done six uh we've done uh the community
the guy Davis Community Park so the community center sits in the front along ml along 10 Street right we don't have any design or plans for the community center got it so that's new and additional on top of the okay great so um these are probably all great projects
to consider and and in other words the you all and the community we've already invested quite a bit in these analyzing these because these were requested some time ago by hopefully some smart people so uh well-informed people sorry so the
um the I guess what I think about is maybe the the role of of our board at this point is to think about you know prioritizing this a little bit but ALS so marrying or reconciling it with what the
budget is Year bye and which of these are Heavy Hitters versus maybe a little bit lighter on the budget because maybe that would influence the priority um and I so I think the the the next couple SL I'm not asking you to change a slide but the next couple slides on the budget that's also super helpful because if we can forecast okay
it's 6 million free next year and oh look there's 10 million free after that and so on now we can start cooking with gas as they say and you can actually have this sort of strategic long-term plan you can just start dropping these in as they go maybe one projects a year maybe one project is four years you have
to fund it okay so kind of but I I I assume you're quite eager to do that but you can't do that until you have some idea which of these are are the priority I suspect before when we were talking about the bright line stain train
station that was in my budget for next year so but with you know the board the discussions has changed so I had to remove that and now we have other projects we need to identify for the C so if I if I could continue is that okay
okay um be I would I really look forward to discussing these uh with the board and and those who may be president want to say something but before I do I have a couple of big picture questions and I'm I'm not sure if you're going to answer them but let's see what
happens is there a parking issue in downtown Town Stewart so we've done parking study and it did not ident it does not identify we have a parking issue we have parking management issue um so we've implemented some of the recommendations in the
parking study like extending the the hours before we used to have um Limited hours till 3:00 3- hour parking until 3:00 we changed that to 8:00 uh we extended the limited parking along Flagler Avenue so we've implemented some
of the things uh that are recommended the next big item for us to for us to implement is to paid parking and that's where everybody gets held up because nobody wants paid parking in Downtown um because if we're going to do parking
garage we have to have paid parking in Downtown otherwise nobody's going to go to parking garage they're all going to come here to park so how do we change Behavior we have to make we have to convert these preferred parking to paid parking and and we don't have that
support from downtown Merchants at this time yeah I I hear you and thanks for that and I um I guess I would say you either do or you don't have a parking problem at least that's what I would try to get the answer to and what you answered it I think the best you could which is well it's about timing and
managing and all I get that in seasonal whatever can I add cl to that that that probably the disagreement that you'll get and my disagreement with panal is is not that do we have a parking problem it's do we have a perception that's a parking problem cuz it didn't make any difference if you got a parking problem
or not if that person gets in their car in Palm City and and says I'm going to go shopping or I'm going to go eat where am I going to go well I don't think I can find a place to park down in Stewart so I'll go to the mall or I'll go to and that's really the bigger problem it's
it's like I was talking to somebody before not a member of the board um you know it's it's one of those kind of things where people say we've had some people from up in the Northeast say oh you guys are just lazy you don't want to walk right and it's like I say to them when you live in Connecticut and you
decide you're going to go into New York the first thing you don't think is can I find a parking place you know there's going to be one there it just might not be affordable but you know there's going to be one there right and you walk or tra right right but here you know you don't know that there's going to be a
place that's within a a reasonable distance to walk and we don't have covered walkways everywhere so if it's summer and you get caught in the rain you get drenched you know so I think that's kind of the concept that the problem that people are having is
because when you do the studies they say yeah we don't have a problem but it's the perception that we do when somebody comes downtown and they can't find a place to park you know okay so that's all I accept the fact it may be a perception problem but um addressing
that you would take a different approach than addressing it if you actually had the parking problem so I would just say you know we we don't build a garage to address a perception you can fix the perception other ways right so I hear you I hear you clearly um so um and I
have my own opinion about that by the way but I'll keep that so the um my next oh I'm from my view and um you know as it was in the plans and the decks here and all the strategic planning that was done for the area it
it was sort of assuming there was going to be a a parking garage or parking space associated with the train station whether that comes or not I guess we it's a little bit uncertain but we a lot of people are heading in that direction like it's going to be there so let that solve the parking problem whether it's
perception or not let that solve it so I'm moving on from that topic so the how about City Hall so where we are sitting right here and maybe the building next door uh it seems like it's a bit of a mystery but is is there like a plan to
like to move leave sell Bill tear down or it it stays that is as it is until anybody knows further so um we we acquire the Wells Fargo Building and half of our departments have already transferred there on purpose apparently because our goal is to relocate to Wells
Fargo buildings excellent so there is a goal so leave this building and go to Wells Fargo we we own Wells Fargo we own that Wells Fargo got yeah it was a great decision but I think the issue is there Wells Fargo is leasing uh one of the floors and there are other tenants there
they have a really good lease agreement with the city and there that's what's holding up um from us moving there we have to I think the city Man City attorney might know more information about the lease agreements that we have with and why are we leaving this building because this is a prime
property and it could be redeveloped into something ah so somebody made a decision that it was better to have this as a revenue producing space rather than than City Hall is that correct well not entirely part of the problem is this building requires significant maintenance and repairs to the point
that it would almost have to be torn down right and so it didn't make sense to put that kind of money into something that um for this for City staff that could be used even just for a park it would be you know save us the money of having to you know build something else
there's perceived to be a better use for this space as well as the financial and the cost of repairing it all right and I guess is that the same for the building next door when you say for the record Lee bag at City attorney what building next door are you referring because there's a restaurant store that the city
owns but we have a longterm lease with the restaurant right that's spent like a million bucks that was my second question I didn't know if there was already a plan oh yeah we're going to get out of that and redevelop that too but there there an occupant probably has a long-term lease so you you answer the question so so we're not really exiting
that building or or that's going to stay like it is for a while correct so that should not be part of any long-term planning decision here correct it's just the current building and I'm not sure potentially the annex as well it's a little small building where you pay the
bill yeah pay P pay utility bills um um pooser to downtown got it um we have long-term tenants in the Ws Fargo Building and so unless they break the lease early and they want to move out we got to let them ride out the lease so I
know the bank is still there obviously Wells Fargo um and then there's a doctor's office U that takes up a significant portion of the Eastern side of the building but the but the plan is kind of as space becomes available ailable over there I'm pointing to Wells
Fargo uh is that folks would leave this facility or complex and move over there is that kind I've been here about a year and a half and we've had people that were here that have located like I know HR was here when I got here and they relocated um I don't know Finance Finance is over there I don't know if
they loc relocated before I got here or not um and so we have some departments already over there I I know procurement was there um but we they're on the second floor but the first floor is completely leased by Wells Fargo um and
then like I said there was also a doctor's very busy doctor's office on the Eastern portion and I think the Eastern portion would be probably the goal to be where the the you know the the dis will be the chambers got it and I guess the uh this is very helpful by
the way thank you so the um folks are leaving here but um there's no known end day when everybody will be ex we don't know if it's two years five years 10 or 20 is that correct correct we don't it's uncertain potentially a tenant can move out earlier if they needed more space
and they needed to move right um but um and that could maybe expedite things but right now they are in long-term leases so and I I I wasn't prepared for it so I don't know the what what the terms are left yeah yeah no no sweat so I guess what the reason I'm asking all that is
it's very relevant to what we're looking at here on the screen for this board so per I mean you really you can't plan anything about this space because you don't know when it's going to happen now you couldn't say hey maybe with a bit of imagination we can hope for it but that's not usually a good strategy I
think you could do a visioning or planning effort not a design effort but just get that initial feedback of what the community wants it to be because obviously the city views it as Revenue other people have talked about it being green space I think it would be really valuable to at least know what we want
to go there um okay and and there's the problem the city would never move because the decision to move nobody would ever make it was always predicated upon what they were going to do with this sure makes yeah and you really don't need to it doesn't really make any difference what we do with this where we
put the staff we know it doesn't make sense for the city staff to be here they don't need to be on the water they don't need to be in this space this building needs significant repairs it doesn't make sense to repair so that's really been the big issue and that's why I laughed when you brought you've brought up two of the dagger issues that have
been existing for last 10 years I was waiting for panel to climb under the table and not answer this last the the city hall question but but here's the thing there is Pen's got a a project that she did that actually shows how this area could be redeveloped ignoring
what was done with this building in other words you could turn it into a it's in the deck I saw it but that's I mean part of it is non Revenue generating so I would say o if the goal was to generate Revenue well guess what Green Space doesn't generate a whole lot of Revenue so won't ad address that goal but going back to what Bonnie said if if
that's if that's kind of like a two or three option Vision like this is what could be done with the space okay so be it that's it's worth uh you know seeing which you you have here on the on the slide now it's worth uh considering yeah that's cool um and obviously you you
would need lots of community engagement to to work all that okay so I have just a couple more questions if you still have patience but now sure um so yeah we're going back to that list this is fantastic so the for my view the the tree planning program
fantastic and and Mark said something um uh rather smart is um you know for some of these projects where it's relatively low funds per item if we can think about like well let's just do the whole block
or let's just do the whole street at a time if that's something that we can think about um with with I think you were mentioning paint up was one program but I'm thinking about the Treaty planning other things if we can do that in larger chunks because it's not that expensive per per unit um that's just a
view from from me but um in terms of these projects that you have on the list here undergrounding is I feel should be a priority um it helps with making it more pedestrian oriented and as along
with that is the sidewalk design in our organization and again shape stagy so those kind of those three go together in my view so if we commit to some kind of a strategy with you know making the space the areas more pedestrian friendly
which I'm all for um I think I would look at all three of those together the sidewalk the trees and the undergrounding and okay right and that all kind of goes together for the Southwest Ocean Boulevard complete Street project that if you underground
that then you can do wider sidewalk on street parking shade trees all of that kind of goes together exactly it doesn't make sense to Do complete Street project if you have overhead utilities because they're still going to be in the sidewalk do we have an idea of how much uh let's say a I know blocks are different sizes but a block of
undergrounding with the wires what does that cost is that $10 10,000 10 million 100,000 well I mean we just went out for bid for downtown undergrounding and streetcape uh what was it um so that project includes I don't have by square
footage or anything uh But it includes uh seminal Street yeah Oola Street yeah it includes uh Colorado from Flagler to seminal and includes St Lucy from Flagler seal so that's about 6.9 million
great so that means a million of block yikes but um$ million right yeah it's pricey but if if if done I think well you guys are doing a great job with it now but but have done with the sidewalk plans and making them the the right width and and accessible and tree
plantings um then it's quite nice okay I'll stop talking no no that's good those those are all good things that's great and um anybody else yeah I I wanted to I noticed that there wasn't anything budgeted for the private public
uh finding that site for a lowincome housing our developments right because those are proposed projects this is all the projects that we're working on right now so that's why I'm asking for direction from the board which of these projects
or anything else that the board could recommend so you're talking about the public private partnership for affordable housing yes yeah we would have to identify site uh it could be I know that we've always talked about the garage site on MLK uh as potential affordable housing
project um but again we have to wait to see when the garage will move um to the other location that they're building so that's another four or five years out so these are city-owned projects uh properties that we're looking at it doesn't have to be it could be a private
property owner that wants to partner with the city but we haven't had any any uh requests like that it's usually um private developer that will ask do does the city have a a a a property that they would like to partner with because that could be their our
contribution uh the the property we've talked about affordable housing project also on US1 by uh North River Door the we city owns that property also and we've talked about doing
affordable pro project there also but nothing moved forward the um a couple things I'll just mentioned just in general for for the board's benefit um you know to qualify
an area to be a cra you have to show that there's blight all right that's one of the requirements that you show is blight but what people forget is that that also includes economic blight and we haven't really focused on
the economic blight side of this thing so you know I I do think that that's one thing we need to keep in mind that we should try to look for some projects that are potentially going to create jobs um and you know I know there's a lot of discussion going on on housing
and zoning and all of that kind of stuff that's fine but if we can create jobs that pay people to be able to afford to live here live here then some of those other problems go away but so I want to mention that the other thing I
want to mention in in kind of a because now it may be more of a factor is quiet zones um with the bright line transaction originally um we were going to get quiet
zones that would be kind of and for those that don't know how quiet zones work because I didn't um it it's basically there's there's these improvements you put in and you reach certain levels and it allows you
to reduce the the use of the horn basically that's what amounts to and there's there's a level where you can get complete quiet they don't they don't blow the horn at all cuz the crossings are all closed and they don't BL blow the horn at all then there's a a one a little below that where they use just
it's just a directional horn that blows down the street right so it doesn't blow as they're driving as they're bringing the train through town it doesn't blow an echo off of everything it blows strictly one way and one way at the stop at the lights where the lights are where
the Train's Crossing and that's it so now originally we were going to have that I think at the maximum level plus bright line was going to maintain these things um and I think now that we're probably not looking at bright line if bright line doesn't come through then I
think as as I think we should move that quiet Zone up I mean if we keep talking about it's it's kind of a travesty if if we don't get any benefit uh out of out of the you know train other than bad stuff so you know I
think I think quiet zones are something that we now U may need to to look at um and and get on top of those so that we uh we can eliminate some of this noise you know some of those horns and things downtown um that's just one of the
things I I noticed there and um I would like to see Guy Davis Park finally get done in my lifetime I'm 70 years old now so please you know can you get it done in the next like 40 years I'm not going to live that long but um so I'd like to
see that finalized and um that's already budgeted so I know I know but we've had it budgeted for you know and it's not it's not your fault but that's been budgeted off and on for the last four or five years I think maybe more that we keep saying okay well we're going to do it then then we're not going
to do it then we change this and then we we're not doing it you know so I agree but I I think that's something that that Community has waited for for a long time um and I and I think that it'd be nice if we could get that finished um I think what I'm trying to say is that we
already have funding appropriated so the new Revenue that's coming in next year what projects do we want to do with the new Revenue so this funding already exists in the CRA today the six the $7 million for guy Davis Park so yeah I
think might still be some confusion so I think this and the next slide are a good demonstration so these this slide is a list of potential projects without any funding today we have to prioritize them and then maybe they get funding if you go to the next Slide m so this there's
actually two slides of this but this one shows you half of it so these are all projects that are set they're done they're budgeted they're budgeted I shouldn't say they're done but they they're budgeted and it's they're running down the road and there's no decision by us it's it's rocking rolling um and yeah that was the page two so
then so these are what panel is asking us for is uh aside from the existing projects which obviously a project does have multiple years of spend into the next couple of years but she's got that all budgeted so there is additional funding and she's looking for what should the
additional funding go to what new things so these are technically new although the I got confused by the 10th Street Community Center um because I uh I get that is different than the existing guy Davis par okay got it um and I think um
so none of these have any funding on the slide but but importantly they have significant history of analysis uh Community input leadership input um I guess Consultants design and
so on if they were to be pursued so there is some background on these but maybe maybe we think you know what we don't like any of those I me you obviously this board can come up with additional ones or new ones or add or edit and that's kind of that's kind of what I was getting at a little bit is that with with some of the comments I
made in the very beginning is that you know how we would prioritize I these really depends on where the community is going and what they think you know we really need this is there are some things here that are in line historically with what is the comp plan
and is the CRA plan and now some of that has changed so you know are we going to do a Downtown parking garage I I don't think that would go I don't think even if we had the money that it would it would happen and um and it definitely wouldn't be uh you know you got to look
at like uh the city city hall Redevelopment again right which is why I was kind of I the beginning I parked those too so park to parking garage uh and the City City Hall Redevelopment because it's that's so unclear it's not worth us spending a lot of time on with
the exception of if there were some it doesn't preclude anyone from doing a vision plan for downtown that might include that stuff but right um that's why to me there there are some on this list that I see see I don't know if they're Nob brainers but there to me
they they are consistent with what you just said which is important kind of like a it's like everybody would agree with this kind of long-term investment which is some of the undergrounding and the sidewalk and trees and things uh in the the triangle space now that you made you may also you made another good point
about uh I'm a r I know um about um creating jobs uh relative to other investment but I I would just I would also say that um you know there is something about having space that is enjoyed by the citizens so that that has
value and that is reinvesting the space and people get value out of it maybe not in the form of jobs but it does improve the property value uh in the surrounding areas as well um The Quiet zones that's a bit of a mystery to me because I I don't quite understand the the need and
especially when there there seems to be more concerned about safety so the last thing I would do is reduce the um the the horns let's say which is part of help and get people out of it but anyway I I I don't understand that one as much uh just being honest I just just to get
that top level where you don't blow the horns or you have the directional horns you make it so that they can't cross at all when when when the when it you get to the point that the train's coming and those Gates go down everything's kind of blocked the streets blocked they can't go around they can't go across so
actually kind of prevents access which is probably more important than reducing the horn it's actually pre preventing I guess you're saying absolutely prevents that's right mhm interesting yeah we have okay oh do we have a visitor yeah again Lee bag City attorney I could probably give you some input on it you
have to do certain improvements like um to an intersection which they've done throughout the county uh to completely seal off both directions uh both sides all sides of the the crossing and you can
imagine um confusion Corner trying to seal off yeah that intersection uh with you know gates to to block it off it's going to be very difficult so there the reason why they're up there is we have to do significant improvements to those
Corners uh in order to even apply for a quiet Zone because uh what the requirements are um so that's that's but this money could be used for that right that's what we're saying this when we say quiet zones we're talking about those improvements right correct and and and you were worried well it's a safety
issue they won't give you a quiet Zone unless it's safe yeah with improvements yeah does that make sense yeah no I got you I just and I I will say we get a lot of complaints about the horn do you yes oh I enjoy it but um anyway so maybe I'm in the minority I live next to the train that's
true I don't um so the countyy is going to be applying now the the county had taken the position we're going to wait a year and then apply for quiet zones and we are trying to be included in their application for quiet zones
okay yeah having the maintenance done on those would be tremendous if we could have them you know do the maintenance because it does cost a lot of money over time but we would if we want on those downtown that like the confusion Corner sailfish Circle we we have to do some
significant improvements you're looking at full intersection redesigns right for those yeah but again you know it could be worth it if we can keep people from getting killed and we can absolutely you know so so it might be a project for us to look at um panal would it would it be
helpful to you for us to maybe we can put these in priority list maybe yeah and I think it's important to discuss that you know some are just maybe visioning session because we can't really do anything with City Hall Redevelopment until City Hall relocates everything is um you know depend on
other items right other movements so O Street Extension we can't do that until City Hall site gets redeveloped because we want to extend the osula street all the way do flag little place on Downtown parking I think that could probably work with another project if bright line
comes or whatever so it's not something we would do right now I think we need to look at like Standalone projects like can we move forward with certain projects without you know being dependent on something else yes um like ocean complete Ocean Boulevard complete
Street project I think that works because we could do undergrounding and streetscape improvements without any other you know activ ities that we're waiting on well and you know but all that that kind of also is dovetails with the economic development because to the
extent that people aren't there's a hurricane and people aren't going to lose you know three weeks of work um that they can go through that that that we can have some bunkered system for computers and things like that I mean it really can be uh a benefit to add to the
economic development portion of of what we're trying to do and um one of the things that isn't on here but it's a thought and I know it's been discussed in the past is can we put some internet
infrastructure in in the CRA Corridor that makes it beneficial for somebody to come in and and actually U you know locate their business in here and have almost incubator type uh access to the internet and other
things you know that that would be an infrastructure change that we you know we could make that would help with economic development I think you mind if yeah go ahead um I think I agree with you penal about like some of these that are relying on other
things and moving parts to happen um that maybe those aren't the big Focus the one that I would maybe just strike from this conversation is the underground refu system I think at our last joint meeting there wasn't a lot of um I'm still pushing for it though
support for that and and if parking is one of the reasons I mean you could get three golf cart parking spaces out of a vehicular parking space downtown and you know probably 30% of the people in my neighborhood would drive to downtown and park in their golf cart um so there's
Alternatives that I think are more affordable than that one um I I like the idea of of a big you know a big street skape project where we get to do all of these things at once the undergrounding the
street trees um um the connectivity improving walkability um and maybe with with the funding you can pull you know one of these streets off every year two three years um but I would also like to look at some of the lwh hanging fruit and
interim things that could help in the meantime um so when you're looking at these streets that might cost you know $5 million you could also be looking at projects that are a couple thousand dollars that are going to have a big impact I think one one of those is um
Street trees within the rideway um and I would focus on maybe the streets that that we don't have um a shortterm short shortterm goal to to have any big redesigns but um we've certainly got some streets that either you know we've got space in the rideway and we've got
um actual um like green space within the rideway where there are no trees that we could add trees where there are ailing trees or trees that are not inappropriate um and I know we love those yellow flowering trees but those are a specimen tree not a street tree um I'm sorry to
keep picking on it but they just they're not they're not providing a service to the community outside of being pretty for a few weeks out of the year um so that's something that I think you know we could Target you know um maybe one year we focus on adding a couple trees
to this street or that street um intersection safety improvements is another another one that I think could be interim design um you know intersections are expensive if you're doing a full redesign but if you're making little adjustments to striping to
signage to um you know little things to move the curb to make things a little bit safer uh for connectivity and walkability sake um you could make a big difference with thousands of dollars versus
Millions um that includes confusion Corner the sish round about um I think it would be really important obviously we're focusing on the downtown but we are really special in that our CRA does have schools within it or directly adjacent to it and so focusing on those
areas as well um so that we can get more kids safely uh to school by foot or by bike and then the last thing I would say is oh two more things I I do love the idea of the Bayou pbridge it's one of
the things that noticed and right out of the gate when I moved here to Stewart is that um there is not a lot of north south access uh off of MLK to connect to East Ocean or to the Northern parts of downtown and I think that would be
great um last thing I want to say is that I do want to mention regarding intersection safety improvements I think those could be done on you know as we get requests so it's something we could budget and then if there's some issues identifi
certain intersection then we can have a you know engineer look at it and design something and and it can come I love that idea um I think it would be great for it to be technically good but also beautiful um that is something that I emailed the commission about uh maybe a
month or two ago is you know can we have I'm working at a city in Kentucky right now and they actually have a program where you can submit a request to traffic engineering for traffic calming on a street or at an inter section I think that would be great for the city to have that I don't know if that's City
versus CRA but um I think in terms of parking and walkability um our intersections downtown in the SI are huge barriers people don't feel comfortable I mean I know kids who live on the North side of ocean who are driven to school because
they're afraid to cross at um Palm Beach and East Ocean and we've got lots of instances like that um last thing I'll say is um our play equipment within the CRA outside of Shephard Park and kaanas is is dated not
very creative uh if you go to some of the new parks in Port St Lucy right now they are fabulous and it's not necessarily play equipment it's the whole design it's creative it's built for all ages um and maybe this is something that you know we get to work
on a park every couple of years as the budget allows but but p got a plan she actually there actually is saw cool I yeah yeah I mean I know what you're talking about it's it's it's completely different way of looking at some of that stuff yeah I mean I think you know we've
got um what is the stage over here over here called River Walk stage River Walk stage right like my son likes to play on that just as much as he likes to play on Flagler Park so it doesn't have to be like a playground but I think that investment in um third places spaces
where families uh where people of all ages want to be would be great um and that's it okay so my question is uh we were talking about prioritizing the list is there a time frame that you're looking at with this
list um no I we would have to I've taken some notes I think I have to come back to the board and um you know I can I can kind of identify hey these are projects that that are small scale projects and it could be budgeted every year as we identify intersection improvements
you're looking at about 100,000 $200,000 for those type of improvements and then we have large scale projects so then when we have the large scale project is what we need to prioritize and and and decide what years we want to do those do we you know design and and public Outreach process
takes at least two years it's just it's a long process so if I start working on something um you know based on the direction I get from the board um close to trend of this year it'll take me two years before I can implement it but if
it's a $10 million project it's fine because I'll have money from next year which I don't have any large scale project and then funding some funding from fiscal year 2027 to do these large projects so it's just a matter of prioritizing and then I we can kind of
identify uh you know estimate cost for these type of projects and then we can plug it into different years got it now these are Grant funded projects and would you have to no they're not no they they would be um CRA funded but then I would look for Grants based on what
projects we want to implement as we get into the design phase usually they they want to see that that they're they're ready to be implemented they're not going to fund projects just because they're on our master plan they want to see that you're actually in the design phase you're 30% 60% design you've had
public meetings and input uh because they're ready to spend their money they don't want projects that that's pending 5 years well that's one of the reasons I was asking if you had to go through that process so we'd have to also consider that right when we're making a priority list
yeah thank you is sorry go ahead um so I um I prioritize it all by the way on my own piece of paper but what um I don't know if for you panel if probably on the discussion you you've heard here today you probably have a sense of maybe what we're looking at and I mean the top
three there are kind of those ones that we would park off you know kind of vision ideas not to say they they stop but just kind of vision things um and I guess again I I might rank the the rest of those a little bit differently than some of the colleagues here but I I
guess you got a sense of our general consensus or or do you want us to go through right now and verbally prioritize those today yeah no I don't think we need to do it today I'm going to bring this item back again uh you'll have more time to think about about it I'll create a shortterm list and like
long-term list and then I'll kind of come up with some numbers cost estimate based on some of the projects I've done and then we can say hey this is something it's going to take two years of planning and Outreach so this is something we could do in 2029 or you know so then you can kind of give me you
know timeline of when you expect to to do those projects and put it in CIP and if you have if you come up with anything in the meanwhile um before before for our next meeting please email me directly and I can get it on on the
list and if I missed anything today and if you said you already have a list I would like to see that also well I I just prior it off as his work anyway I just prioritized your list but I mean there's um I mean there's other things that other ideas that I have we heard some other you know new or additional
ideas here from the board members so you know we can throw them into the into the list yes I would do that also some ideas from Bonnie and yourself it sounds like trees are popular so so make sure trees at the top definitely sorry and I if I missed anything you know we can always discuss
it as at the next meeting and it's a working progress like I said I don't have to budget this until next year and it's a five-year plan so even if we miss something we have time to plan yeah no I think I think that's good um I think that does anybody else have
any other comments or anything um anybody want to make a comment I um I would I would make one more more uh statement comment um a number of years ago because I'm old a number of years
ago when I lived in pury Illinois um the mayor at the time decided to do a cost uh a cost Reduction Program and what he did is he got a bunch of local business people uh including the chairman of caterpillar and or the
retired chairman of caterpillar and um businesses Lent volunteers like CPA firms and attorneys L some of their staff to come do this and they went and they visited a bunch of departments and um got suggestions on improvements that
could be made to make the city more effective and they Quantified those I mean it had to be for it to get the on the list it had to be real dollars it couldn't be well we think this is going to make us so much better so being happy is worth a million dollars well no that didn't work you know but to make the
streetlight system more effective or or the stoplight system more effective but anyway it was really a great program first of all it got a lot of Buy in from the community but we saved millions of dollars I mean it was millions of dollars that came out and um and it all
came from really the ideas of the people in the city and the staff you know of things that could be done and I I don't think it it would be done at this level but I would really like I I really think a program like that at this point would
really get people engaged and save the city a bunch of money and at the same time I think it it will get people to know what we're doing you know what really happens in the city and it's a good thing they uh we T we've talked
about this in the past at the commission level having a a program like they have at Martin County where they have leadership you know they have leadership Martin County where you learn about all of the stuff that goes on and you go through the leadership class we we talked about and we actually were supposed to implement that
program um for the city it was um I think it was called star or something but I don't remember Dave Coler was the one that was kind of spearheading some of that effort and and it then it just it didn't completely happen but what it was supposed to happen is People Like Us would go and we would commit to go to
these programs and they'd teach us how the utilities works and what's involved in the utility department what's involved in Main Street what's involved in whatever and um anything we can do at this point in time to get more understanding of what's happening and
buy in and feedback uh I think would be good and you know I just throw that out there or something maybe to to think about I just go on the record for it is what I wanted to do but otherwise if there's nothing else motion to
adjourn second all in favor I e e