##VIDEO ID:7VNxFHOHubs## e e e all righty um the meeting is called to order would you like do roll call yes chair Lorraine here Vice chair Forbes board member bramfield here board member Mathers here board member Peterson here board member strong here then there's all right wonderful let's everybody let's rise for a Pledge of Allegiance please I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right everybody um has a copy of the agenda would like anyone like to make a motion to approve the agenda move approval second second all in favor I any opposed all right uh we have the minutes from our last meeting which was September 12th 2024 would anybody like to make a motion to approve move approval second all in favor I any opposed okay great do we have any comments from the public on non-agenda related items I don't have okay do we have comments by the board on non-agenda items all right wonderful all right we have our first item up um the 710 Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard major Amendment to the existing commercial plan univ development zoning District good evening board members my name is Jody cougler I'm the develop director with the development department tonight I'll be presenting agenda item number two for a rezone petition to re to read title oh I'm sorry oh you want me to read the whole thing okay that's fine I apologize proceed correct okay all right we haven't had to do that in the past but that's fine we can do that ordinance number 2532 d224 in ordinance of the city Commission of the city of Stewart Florida amending the official zoning reone a 2.4 acre parcel located at 710 Southeast Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard being more described in exhibit a attached for major Amendment to the existing commercial plan unit development also known as cpud zoning designation to allow locational training facility only providing directions to the city clerk providing for repeal of all ordinances in Conflict providing for separability providing for codification providing for an effective date and for other purposes okay thank you again my name is Jody cougler I'm the development director um tonight I will be presenting agenda item number two for a rezone position to reestablish the existing commercial plan unit development zoning designation for the project lift development pursuant to the Land Development code Public Notices requirements on September 19 2024 the applicant mailed notices to all jent properties within 300 ft of the subject parcel to provide details of the requested development in the date and time of the tonight's meeting public hearing additionally three signs were posted on the property with the same information the 2.4 acre property formerly known as the Vesta Village shopping center is located at 710 Southeast Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard and is bounded by the southeast Tarpon Avenue to the east Southeast Lake Street to the South and Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard to the north the site is located within the CRA and the East Stewart neighborhood the subject parcel is currently designated by the cpud commercial plan unit development the proper property situated to the north south and west are designated by the general residential office zoning District the properties to the South are Zone single family duplex and the properties to the East are Zone business mixed juice the subject parcel and all surrounding properties are designated by the East Stewart future land use designation the East Stewart future land use designation only applies to land areas within the CRA and is specific to the east Stewart neighborhood permitted uses include low density and multifam residential commercial office recreational and Mi mixed use projects the project was presented to the crb and the LPA on August 6th and August 8th of 2024 and was recommended by this board with conditions to be forwarded to the city commission however during the first reading before the city Commission on August 26 2024 the commission recommended the CRA revise the BM U re Zone petition instead proposed the project lift development under the existing commercial plan unit development zoning destination this also eliminated a need for the minor development plan application for the administrative site plan approval or the major Urban conditional code conditional use petition I do apologize it actually still requires a minor site plan development which is currently under review through the administration um but like I pointed out that that nothing has changed on a site plan since the board reviewed and approved it on August 6 2024 as only reason we are here tonight is to request a recommendation of approval of ordinance number 25 32- 2024 for a major Amendment to the existing commercial plan unit development zoning designation and to allow a vocational training facility as a permitted use under the CPU and cpud and approval of the site plan for project lift and staff is requesting the local planning Agency for a recommendation of approval to the city commission for a major Amendment to the existing commercial planning and development zoning Des to approve the project lift site plan and to allow for vocational training facilities this concludes staff's presentation okay thank you do we have any comments from the public did you f you have to fill out a form oh the this the lady right here usually has the forms she'll get I think you could fill it out after you speak right yeah that's fine we just have to I just know that it's a big deal we have to always have a form so anybody else who would like to speak if you could fill out a form that would be fantastic all right sir you're up good evening my name is James Chris third and I'm standing um on behalf of L East Community okay and I've been here okay and uh I like toate our Ure with this are good and also disint um I guess being led to believe there will be uh a joint V particularity that areae and CH and now be a only was to believe that there will be public spaces for Community there and it just all of a sudden very that and I'm here to continue as I have and just every the change of want something else there that will benefit would like City requested or for that was going to be area for uh to address economic and Justice been thank all right thank you very much did we have any other comments anybody all right board would you have any comments I have a com so it it seems like so we approved it as I think business mixed use and so the commission had a procedural issue with what we recommended and what staff recommended and they wanted to go back to cpud uh yes that is correct the board had requested that uh we go back to just amending the existing planning of development to allow this use uh not to reson it to a bmu a b mixed use can you explain to me I'll say me because I'm new um what would be the difference like what could be allowed under the bmu versus keep like why was it changed in the first place if this zoning would have been allowed under the initial the the in like current land usage why would why were we changing it and then why did we go back I guess or so the uh proposed bmu which is the business mixed use has a list of permitted uses if this was zoned to a uh bmu those list of uses could be utilized at any time uh the city wanted to assure that they the property was only going to be used for vocational training facility so the uh they requested staff to go back into amend to allow the existing cpud into uh amend the uh use to vocational facilities vocational training facility only okay so can you explain someone as this gentleman mentioned that the residents were led to believe that this was going to be more of a business mixed use so that they could have other things there and why it was amended to only being vocational like just [Music] forer origin CP as Amin CP so under the original they you could only have one plan explain explain the difference all right so so think you have straight zoning we have our zoning areas and [Music] districts straight yeah plan un development yeah I know what that is think of the as a custom zoning District you want to create a custom zoning district and anytime you create a CP it has to go before the board your the [Music] Mally Z have issues andm get up here this project has been in play for years cou years and they've had many board meetings other out meetings describing the project we not here appr as a okay you on zonings okay you to amend the current CP to allow this to so anytime you amend building CP you have yeah yeah no I got that part but could you also amend it to allow a business incubator so that it's not restricted just to the vocational yeah that's my concern too add that in as another and then maybe down the road it goes from Project lift to business incubator or could you have both things there close by whom project lift oh project lift is going to implement the entire thing okay so the other the other comment I have is the um this is strictly zoning not site plan approval for cpud site plan approval that goes through the I've never done a I've never seen a cpud that doesn't go through the LPA for site plan approval are you saying that's going to be done administratively the site plan approval yes so that's i' I've never Bill have you ever seen a CP no that doesn't make sense to I've never seen that happen so why is that what what's happening different here the cpud site plan is not going to be reviewed by us no I know I'm asking them why yeah I think that's a valid question so in your code you can either have go through a cped for use only or you can go with a site plan but this is under the 50,000 Square ft so this could be approved administratively so so staff has brought it through as just for a use for a particular use [Music] only I've never seen that yeah if you want a presentation on the site plan we do have Kim leorn here can present the site plan if that's the request of the board I think didn't we see the site plan did we see the site plan in August we did see it but we didn't discuss it we didn't [Music] review what is there there's a Time constraint isn't there right yeah with the grants correct so I have to close out the grant by March 2026 so I have to have this approved by end of this year go off for RFP to hire a contractor to do the construction we need at least 12 months for construction yeah so now you guys are basically saying if we had a plat we had a a larger lot within a cpud but the original PUD allows you to develop individual Lots under a uh under the zoning master plan but the site plans run through the staff I've seen that before Cas um the development director uh believes that this can be uh processed administratively because of the size of the building it's 12,500 foot building um and we're we're actually not even right now the current zoning is cpud so it is just an amendment to the cpud to allow this specific use on the site okay I'm just saying it's rare that that ever occurs but I understand I think the codes do allow for very small Parcels that the site plan can be processed you know through staffs okay uh a lot of it I've seen with u larger developments where we approved the uh the larger portion like a shopping Center and they had out Parcels the out Parcels sometimes were processed at staff level because they were so small with PL minary documents and stuff uh requirements within the master cpv so you're looking at it with that type of eye right corre okay and I feel like one of the some of the concerns back in August were that there had not been enough public meetings and that East Stewart was not aware but am I correct that there's been like three meetings since then in the community to kind of spell out this project so they and they're aware then that there is still entrepreneurship and business incubators all part of what that project LIF will do can you speak to his to his comment right and we and he has taken a tour of project lift and uh we've had this conversation multiple times where we've expressed that it's just not a vocational school although the the you know um the the title of the ordinance says vocational school but a definition that also means incubator we're not going to spell out all the different uses that go into you know Vo ational school just like when you say a professional office building doesn't mean that you can't have different type of professional offices in there it can vary right so it's the same thing with vocational school you can have different type of training programs that's what does the grant say it needs to be it needs to be a training program we have to create new 50 new jobs okay all right so the community can have an input in some suggested uh uses within the parameter of what the uh uh you know what is it the bond and so forth you know allow right yeah right so when the the the grant was announced uh we did a public notice where a public could come out and give recommendation on what we should apply for and we had two public hearings on that and it was recommended that we apply for a job training center where we create new jobs and this was in respond to pandemic so back in 2021 okay you know we had to address the economic impact that pandemic you know covid had um in our community so that's why this was in response to that and you know it's still few years you know now few years later uh we might not have the same conditions but our obligations are to meet the grant requirements okay so other words who's going to choose other words uh this is going to an entity that's going to build a building and operate right the city received the grant so the city is going to go off RFP and going to uh construct and and um build a new facility and we're going to partner we're going to have a lease agreement with project LIF to provide the services okay so you you're going to still maintain it through lease control right right so we are still in control of the property if project lift moves out in the future the city can decide we'll come back before the board to decide what use should go in there okay so the community has access to the city to help if they want to know what's going in uh maybe have some input on uh what is going in so there's a group that can listen to that outside the city that's going to be uh Partnerships with the city in determination right yeah if there's I I think that's what you need to let the community know that it's not done and over uh the city of Stewart and their Community right that they're part of still have input into this on uses right okay but we just can't do uh retail or gas station or some of these uses that have been mentioned in previous meetings it has to be like a training but just let the community know because again I can see their point uh and as long as they know the city is still not just turning it over to an entity that will they'll lose control they have no input uh they still are the community right there so they'll have input on you know what the is going to be there how it's operated and the city still in control at least in a partnership absolutely I have a question so for and maybe I don't know if this is our but with as you've been working with project lift has there been a discussion that with the vocational Tech in that East Stewart community that they would specifically partner with East Stewart to help provide this training to people in that Community right so they know the type of what type of jobs Industries are looking for they try to train the the students in those type of Industry And Trades um and I know that project lift hires from within the community so even like some of the you know administrative um uh teachers that they'll be looking for they're going to he's going to work with the community to partner with the community to provide those services with the the East Stewart Community not like the the bigger Stewart Community okay okay okay so procedurally it's it's currently a cpud so we are voting on a zoning change to keep it a CP normally there would be an amendment to the CPD if it's already cpud we would amend the CPD with amending the cpud to allow a vocational training facility as a okay so that's the changing condition because today what exists on the property in the previous PUD that exists on the property pertain to the gas station to retail it all spelled it out in the original plan development now we're coming back and amending it to just allow a vocation training fac other those other uses are no longer allowed just this that's correct so that's why it states uh a vocational training facility only because those uses will go away any previous orders within the ped and this use will be as a only permitted use at this time okay and there why is and I don't know if we already addressed this but what were the city commission what was the city commission's thinking and not doing it what they what it was originally presented so one of their concerns if this went straight zoning and say project Lyft decides to back out of the program and someone else comes in forward they can just come in and go ahead and do an amendment to De side plan and move forward and go ahead and establish another type of use um that wasn't the intent of the grant so we wanted to make sure that we stay within the parameters of the Grant and the needs of the East Stewart St uh neighbor Hood so that's why it specifically only has one particular use and by doing that you can only do that through a commercial plan development also the pmu the state zoning like she me like development director mentioned there are variety of uses there's a long list of uses multif family there's you know a lot of different uses and I think the Commissioners are concerned that if we keep straight zoning in the future somebody can come in and just do multif family development on the site okay have you guys made sure been cleared environmentally right there's no issue that's going to haunt us right you mean like a brownsfield grant or brownsfield because of the existing gas station they they will have to yeah we've cleared that we have the phase one phase two completed that's already been removed the okay we are currently through going through a zoning in progress so Mission we even had a workshop earlier today looking at redoing the code in chapter three which incl include C Stewart is up next so there might even be changes to the business mixed use zoning anyway so I think um by also keeping it another reason in their mind was by keeping it a cpud it's not going to be impacted by any changes that they're going to do to the to the code okay okay that's a good okay do we have any other questions I want to ask if the gentleman wants to talk to us again gentle sir did you have any other comments because a little while ago it looked like you were raising your hand again please come to the microphone you know I think it was a good question that was asked Regarding why the original plans were changed and it's stated tonight that um and I disagree nothing is stated regarding the business incubator use and that's just like an afterthought um how the building is set up now you can look at the plans there no there's no space for it okay there's no mentioned about any um designated area for it there's only the information regarding the programs from Project LIF that's going to be in there and that's a good question why why did it change I got news reports of the mayor uh stating about about economic Injustice for the community and stating first is going to be a business incubator and vocation of tech okay and the business in the vocation Tech stuff is good okay it's good I think it'll be beneficial uh but not necessarily for our community what would be beneficial for the East St Community is a business in this situation you have a VTech School designated for teens a finite group of people we need business in there that everybody could take advantage of you got people with home business you got people with maybe food trucks you got people with um home business that may need that place as a copy place as a meeting place that's how you do economic Redevelopment and the funds were CRA funds that were designated for the blight of the community not for other entities it's not that many teens and he steart to fill up 60 spots it's going to change the Dynamics of the community got 50 teenagers coming in there 60 in a day more traffic more things we we we know what we need in our community okay and that was ignored when it was put out there what was going to be there I think that's why he got community support okay and I went to see T the facility cuz like I said I had nothing against the program mhm but I am a homeowner in the community within 300 feet of of this structure I was born and raised in the community I had a business in that building that's being torn down so you know this just have concerns and we feel that been an nored and you have public hearings and information about whatever M you can't say that we just had it what did the community say about it what did people say in here when we had all these meetings it was always somebody in here not just me opposing this not because of the nature of it's a good program but it's just not the best for that area it will change the Dynamics in the community and that's what we're concerned about okay we want to make sure that we have like you say input in it and we feel we don't okay at public hearings um when you talk about those you have to talk about what happened at the public hearing no I agree 100% yeah thank you sir thank you okay we have another comment um is it pearly yes ma'am please come to the mic pearly Clerk all ma'am you want to adjust we don't want to we don't want to miss what you're gonna say there you go thank you ma'am okay what I would like to say is that I look forward to a program like this in East we have young people who don't go to college who can't afford to go to college who don't wish to go to college however if they learn a rotation a mechanic electrician all these things right at hand that will work and we see more progress they come back home uh they uh provide the economy of the city but I am for this project because I've been here all my life I just turned 80 and I see young people and my kids was brought up here so I feel that this would be an access to the Easter thank you thank you ma'am um can you address the part he I think he made a a valid point in that this is Project lift is usually geared towards teens but there could be other people in the community that would like vational Tech to me isn't just one group I don't think it's teens it's young adults I think up to 25 or 2 I'm sorry Bob Zach here from Project lift is not here because we had to change the date of the LPA meeting due to the hurricane and he already had a planed trip so he's actually flying out today um but he did mention that it does go up to age 26 27 they have different training groups they have a morning group afternoon group and then the evening group so they are different age groups that that receive training through the through the program and these These Kids U or young adults they actually get paid through the training so um they're actually getting paid and they're learning the the skills and as far as all the other training programs we have a memorandum of understanding with project lift that was also brought before the commission and it specifies all the different training programs that they're supposed to offer so even though the ordinance might not say it we have an a memorandum of understanding so that it has more specific uh requirements okay and plus we still have to do a lease agreement so when we do the lease agreement with project lift we can specify some of the concerns that has come up during these meetings um yeah so I don't know I hope I addressed uh and also as far as adult programs um you know it's a great opportunity because we will uh project lift will address um kids up to 26 27 and then we also have a recreation center um at 10 Street and now that the um the the what do you call the daycare center is no longer there because uh all those kids are going to Boys and Girls Club there's a there is space available to do other programs at the recreation center and I've talked to the uh our our uh Community uh development uh uh director Jim charski and he's mentioned that he's open to some ideas from the community if they want to do some adult programs so I think it's a win-win you get Young Folks skills and we can also work with the older folks uh in a different facility within E Stewart okay and do you think there could be discussion with project LIF as part of the memorandum of understanding to perhaps grow the age that they could allow some of these classes for um I think is really his expertise I think he said that uh you lose that interest like the the the interest from the older kids like the way their model is um it just benefits those age group because after that age group they it's hard to engage with the older people they they're setting their ways but I think the younger ones still are open to development and it just works with their model he was saying too they're not really just vocational training for my understanding they do they're teaching them how to write check balance budgets they're dealing with mental health issues like why are you like what do you need to be successful and those sorts of things so it's kind of an like he hates I think that it's considered just a vocational school because they're really trying to address the whole student and I was going to make the same comment about the rec center because now that they're not doing daycare there they're looking for new programs to bring in there and maybe project lft can partner with them on business incubators for older people but I'm assuming project lft has a Charter that limits their age and whatever but that would be something he'd need to speak to and then as far as CRA funds I think was mentioned it this is all from a grant right this is 100% being covered by a grant there's not any CRA funds being used for this correct correct we receive $ million so it's all being paid through the grant okay and I I like the fact that uh you said something about you because they may not be using all their facilities on the weekends okay if they're you know Monday through Friday uh check with them see if they can't do something that the local community could use uh some of the facilities on the weekend for you know an event or some of their classes or you know um so it's I know they could do it so if you can check with them sure see if there's not something and in the meantime the gentleman can check with the community and see you know is there some uses that they would like to do that they could have weekends and stuff um so yeah and I know you're up against the wall on the grant so we have to make a decision tonight yeah I would also encourage you I know you've been involved and I've seen you at other meetings at commission meetings just stay involved keep telling us what you need and what you're not seeing happening and come to meetings and it will be your you know in your community it's part of our city you know we still we're not losing control or you're not losing input into it it'll continue and then could we just like have this gentle maybe talk to the um not development director the director for the 10th Street to see if they're you know I would like them to be able to have the input I know that like sometimes in that facility I've heard oh they do lacrosse programs or whatever I would like the Stuart Community to be able not an outside group that isn't you know part of that Community but I would like them to be able to have the say in what happens not who H who can afford to pay the biggest you know rent fee this needs to be for their Community sorry yeah I can have that conversation that would be fantastic thank you do we have any other comments yes um my thoughts um towards Mr Christie is that um you know uh with the funds slated and this project is seem like it's going to go forward partner with the church is to make sure that the community understand what is coming and that the young people really get prepared and take advantage of it because like I said I've lived here for 30 years and for most of that time the property has been vacant and I think skills are great so plan on you know really engaging in maximizing the opportunity while it's there and things change you know things change all the time so let's maximize the opportunity if we if we sit around and and this money the timing on this money expires then who benefits nobody so I would really go out to the churches and let them know that this project is coming and really put a plan in place to maximize it if we really want to get the best for our community cuz changes are inevitable thank you you any other questions would anyone like to make a motion I'll make a motion to approve the item before us anybody have a second second would you like to call the vote Yes Margaret board member Brownfield yes board member Mathers yes board member Peterson yes board member strong yes and chair lorine yes okay thank you very much do we have a staff update other than right now we are in zip in progress uh today we had our second workshop and we will be having a third Workshop to talk about the uh Urban District chapter 3 and all the overlays um on November 19th from 9 o'clock to 1 o'clock okay fantastic and welcome are you going to be here for our meetings from now on no it'll still be sus oh okay you're just filling in for the night I appreciate all right great fantastic all right if we we have nothing else this meeting is adjourned thank you