##VIDEO ID:cCXL5HafxcY## e e e e am I good okay we'll call the meeting to order roll call chair Len here board member Bulls here board member bramfield here board member Peterson here member STM here and board member vogle here okay fantastic if everybody would please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance 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 thank you very much and now we are doing The Advisory Board member oath uh good evening uh for the record City attorney Lee bagot and I'll be swearing you all in so if you all stand and raise your right hand do they have a copy in front of all thank you all right I state your name Kelly am qualified under the Constitution qualified under the Constitution laws of Florida laws of Florida and the code of ordinances for the city of Stewart Florida and the code of ordinances for the city of Stewart Florida to serve as a member of the local planning agency to serve as a member of the local planning agency and that I will well and Faithfully perform and that I will well and Faithfully perform the duties of an Advisory Board member the duties of an Advisory Board member on which I am about to enter so help me God on which I am about to enter so help me God thank you thank you all righty annual board reorganization take motions for a chair and then a vice chair okay we make a motion I am happy to remain chair but but if somebody else would like to take it I'll make make a motion for Kelly to remain chair I'll second the motion all in favor I I okay would somebody like to be the vice chair I'll make a motion that Shawn continues as Vice chair except Shawn resigned oh de would you like would you like to try it out sure okay great make a motion for Deanna as Vice chair Dina okay Dina I'm sorry okay I'll second a motion all in favor I I the opposed fantastic do you like to move over oh it's official are you moving my sign and everything all right very official very [Music] cool would anyone perfect um would anybody like to make an emotion to approve the the agenda for this evening move second all in favor I any opposed fantastic approval of the minutes from 117 2024 LPA meeting would anybody like to make a motion to approve or any comments move approval all right second all in favor any opposed okay great comments from the public on non-agenda related items does anybody have a comment on anything that is not not on the agenda tonight I have none chair H I have none okay you have none is there somebody monitoring online or is this not online we don't have we have online uh recording but no comment online okay great thank you um comments by more board members on non-agenda items anyone nope all righty so on to um the first two items which I know there's going to be a short discussion go ahead yes item number four do you want me to read the full thing out yes please okay sure thing Eden marah Stewart small scale comprehensive plan future land use map Amendment uh legislative RC ordinance number 25 35202 five an ordinance of the city Commission of the city of Stewart Florida for a smallscale comprehensive plan future land use map Amendment as defined in FS1 163 3187 amending the comprehensive plan future land use map for an approximate 2276 acre parcel from commercial to neighborhood special district future land use designation amending the future land use map providing for conflict providing for severability providing for an effective date and for other purposes uh thank you chair I would like to uh invite Michael Houston with hja who is the representative of this project good evening members of the board Michael Houston with a design studio here representing uh the applicant along with Terry McCarthy with McCarthy Summers U Mario Mario Morgado who is our client is unable to be here this evening so we've asked for a tbling to the first meeting in March which we believe or the meeting in March which we believe is uh March 6th I do have uh the proof of public notice here with me which includes the copies of the signs sir I have a question I had thought this was February but now we're moving it to March they are requesting to March 13 unforunately cannot make and it's not March 6th it's March 13th that's correct that's what I was wondering yes okay okay okay 13 13 the following okay okay yes ma'am okay so I have these for staff and for the clerk but that is our request okay um do we need we need to make a motion to staff do you have a recommendation uh we agree with the applicant agree with the Poston okay postponement would somebody like to make a recommendation for postponement of this project to the March LPA meeting it's a continuance right continu I'll make a motion to continue to the March 13th uh LPA meeting I'll second all in favor I any opposed okay all right next item on the agenda Eden Mah Stewart major Amendment to the commercial planned unit development quas judicial ordinance number 2536 d225 an ordinance of the city Commission of the city of Stewart Florida for a major cpud Amendment to the 12.31 acre Mar student Marketplace commercial planned unit development cpud located on the west side of Southeast Federal Highway to incorporate a 22 .76 acre parcel within the overall Mar Stewart cpud for a total land area of 35.0 7 Acres providing for conditions of approval providing for conflict providing for severability providing for an effective date and for other [Music] purposes again I would like to introduce uh Mr Houston with haja designs Madam chair members of the board uh the same request for this item the two obviously go together so the continuance till the March 13th is requested and we appreciate it okay would anybody like to make a motion for continuance to the March 13th meeting I move for the continu second all in favor I any opposed okay thank you very much thank you sir item number six pulk Street hotel's Inc AKA Fairfield in hotel Amendment to the official zoning Atlas rezone quas judicial RC ordinance number 2537 -225 an ordinance of the city commission to the city of Stewart Florida amending the city's official zoning map to rezone a33 acre parcel located at 255 Southwest 6 Street being more described an exhibit a attached from the urban Waterfront zoning designation to the urban Highway zoning designation providing directions to the city clerk providing for repeal of all ordinances in Conflict providing for severability and providing for effective date and for other purposes do we now switch to this since this is the twasa judicial okay sounds good do the board members have any expar Communications to disclose I have none okay um all those giving testimony please stand raise your right hand and be sworn in are you it all right okay all right uh do you affirm that the testimony that you are about to provide in this hearing will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you got I do okay I would just like to let the record reflect there was two people sworn in what what did do I need to repeat that nope I didn't okay okay as your testify please put your name and address on the record um the city development okay please present your testimony including any evidence in your recommendation regarding this case that's you yes so I can go ahead with my presentation yes okay thank you um good evening board members and congratulations on the chair and vice chair uh for the record my name is Jody cougler I'm the development director for the city of Stewart tonight I'll be presenting agenda item number six for an amendment to the official zoning map for a petition to rezone a 33 Acre Site located at 255 Southwest 6th street from the urban Waterfront to the urban Highway zoning destination pursuant to the Land Development code public notice requirement on December 20th 2024 the applicant mail notices to all Jason owners within 300 ft of the subject parcel to provide details of the requested petition in a date and time of tonight's public Hearing in addition three public notice signs were posted on the property with the same information the 33 parcel is is currently vacant and bounded by the vacant vacated funeral and Cemetery uh Crematory site the 33 Acre Site is part of a merging of three lots to redevelop the site is within the urban overlay district and the community redevelopment area the current future land use is a downtown Redevelopment and generally uses perp permitted include low density residential multif family residential office commercial recreational lodging public facilities and conservation and mixed use projects this just shows the consistency that the uh entire property in blue is the uh downtown Redevelopment future land use designation the existing zoning is is uh for this 33 acre side is an urban Waterfront and the definition for that it refers to a special Waterfront oriented uses including marinas restaurants entertainment hotels and higher density residential existing Marine Industrial uses are conditional [Music] permitted the existing zoning is is currently zoned Urban Waterfront it's depicted where the red circle is on the on the map the property to the North and South and West are zone urban Highway and the property to the east is zone urban Waterfront the applicant is proposing to uh reson this property to Urban Highway this is a definition occurs occurs along both sides of Southeast Federal Highway as it traverses the urban code district this this area allows large front setbacks and Highway or oriented commercial or highdensity residential uses with generous parking lots again you can see the property uh in is the proposal shows a purple let me just point that out real quick right here and it's consistent with the surrounding properties this petition conforms to the criteria outlined in section 11.0 1.09 of the land of the steuart Land Development code fora statutes and is consistent with the goals objectives and the policies of the city of Stewart comprehensive plan uh staff is recommending the local planning agent report a recommendation to the city of Stewart commission to approve the rezoning the subject parcel from the urban Waterfront to the urban Highway uh there was a um in the staff report on the last page under one of the justifications it talked about and I just wanted to point this out to put it on record and we have made the change since um it was brought to our attention on your last page of your staff report under item I uh it does say the evidence the existence of other adjacent s is I'm sorry it's dark so I'm trying to read site the city for the proposed uses districts already permitted such uses so in your staff report it talked about a Martin County unincorporated it was a a error in a template we did correct it to state that both properties are consistent and they do allow a hotel use as a permitted use in both districts this is just to clean up the design guidelines to be consistent for one type of Redevelopment the applicant also has a presentation as well and I'd like to introduce Mr Mr Jared [Music] Gaylord the petitioner may now give testimony and call any other Witnesses please yes formally state your name good evening everybody my name is Jared Gaylord for the record uh represent pulk Street hotels Incorporated I'm joined by Mr Patel this evening uh who is a member of PK Street hotel's Inc um the property again was referenced uh in Jody's presentation and jod if it's okay uh can I ask you just to flip through the slides when oh sure absolutely avilable um so if you can go to the next slide please so this is an aerial showing the surrounding property it's located along the Federal Highway quarter uh Corridor just south of Frasier Creek uh dun dog if anyone likes Hot Dogs is just the north so that's kind of a a way point um jod did point out that most of the properties North and South along that Federal Highway Corridor R zoned uh Urban Highway this is somewhat of a unique situation my clients purchased the property in April of 2023 um currently at that time the property was zoned there were three Parcels all separate all with um there were two zoning designations for those three Parcels one was Urban Highway for the northern parcel the southern parcel along Federal Highway was also Urban Highway and that Eastern parcel was Urban Waterfront which is somewhat strange because that Eastern partial doesn't actually have any waterfront property along Frasier Creek that's actually the East the the further property to the east that has Frontage along Fraser Creek and then the northern sliver of that parcel also does have uh Frontage along Frasier Creek so it's somewhat you know just strange that it would be Urban water Frontage but uh here we are today if you could flip to the next slide please uh if you've had a chance to drive by the site or if you're familiar with the property it it was a uh former funeral home so that's what predominates that uh that Frontage long US Highway One um the partial that is zoned Urban Waterfront that is actually currently vacant um along Sixth Street we go the next slide please these are just some some site photos uh of the existing property uh it is in need of some Redevelopment so that's what my clients are trying to do unfortunately because of that zoning discrepancy uh some of the development standards are contradictory and conflicting right the main uh issue being that one of the zoning regulations wants the parking in the front and one of the zoning regulations wants the parking in the rear so when we have that on one site it's difficult to make a decision and that's why we are here before the LPA this evening if you go to the next slide please this is just a survey of the property uh the entire site is about 1.58 Acres uh the portion that is uh that we're requesting this evening is only 33 Acres so a third of an acre in essence and that's in the the lower right hand corner or the the Southeastern portion of the property next slide please and and this is just an an up close uh survey in in essence showing where the where the existing funeral home is and that that Eastern that Southeastern portion of the property is vacant you can go to the next slide please uh this is that Unity of title that was recorded obviously we needed to join all the properties together so that we don't have setbacks and other things like that for when the property is eventually redeveloped uh that was recorded in May of 2023 we go to the next slide please I'm I'm not going to take too much time because Jody went through these um but again you can see the existing Southeastern uh third of the property is um is zone urban Waterfront next slide please thank you and then we're proposing that it's all consistent with Urban Highway next slide and then again the future land use map shows that is the downtown designation and I'm happy to go through the rezoning standards or answer any questions the LPA may have concludes my presentation is that the is that concludes your presentation okay do the board members have any questions for the petitioner uh so we don't ask for comment for this because normally we would ask comment but I don't see any like public comment there's not a spot for it on this it doesn't appear comment should be paragraph seven oh it's all the way down there okay okay next step would be to see if is's any motion and then once a motion in a second it's on the floor and then you can take public comment oh okay normally we do it kind of a different way so okay does the city staff have any response or comments related to the presentation no we Deni okay does the petitioner wish to offer any rebuttal testimony okay um can I make a comment Kelly yes so this is strictly for the resoning it is not just for the public it's not for site plan approval that is another process I believe through the crb correct that would since it's downtown or is that Opa if I may answer that um the right now the applicant does have a application for a minor site plan the way our ordinance read is if it if it's just a straight minor site plan and they meet all the criteria it's approved at administrative level okay okay so we're strictly voting on the change from the urban Waterfront to Urban Highway zoning I guess my question is if this is in the downtown district why is it not at why is it at the LPA and not just at the crb it will be presented to uh crb as well but this is the local planning this is the recommendation board okay and are there any like setback differences is there like what's the major difference between the two so the major difference is um in the urban Waterfront they talk about a Vista that you have a have a view shed to the water um in your parking lot from the rear um this property doesn't flank along to Fraser Creek on this particular property so it's hard to put a view shed through a parking lot that's inconsistent also the setbacks are the same it's just really your design criteria and how you how you um design the protel so and also as as the applicant talked about parking up front versus parking out um in the rear okay all right I just want to make sure that was covered all right so we are closing the hearing at the conclusion of all evidence evidence and board members please deliberate in public citing the facts being considered and state their position and formulate a motion I'll make a motion to approve I'll second okay now we open um public comment please go over there hi I'm Julie Seagle and I live in the backyard on the other side of that Creek and I guess one thing that bothered me a little bit as I'm watching is that you know you see all the color but what you don't see is that our backyards are so close to that so when I heard the words enormous let's see what was it generous parking lot um scares me a little bit in terms of the lighting terms of where the dumpsters would go the sound all of that I don't know if that little section is related to our backyards but I just wanted to make sure you all knew that several of us are here from our neighborhood we back up to that Creek that Creek is very tiny and it is literally in our backyard and there are what 15 houses in that section so I just wanted to okay kind of make sure kind of flag us okay thank you what I think I would recommend based on what I'm hearing is where just approving a zoning but when the site plan actually comes before I believe this you said the crb staff staff right okay well so then that out opens a whole new can of worms that it doesn't come between before a public right so get their comments how would they be heard then contact yes that's my concern they can contact staff and we can sit down with them and go over the plans uh we'd be more than happy to and you're saying staff sta yes is it that would be this lady right here so anything under you Jody I think I actually met with you a year ago yes so the way the ordinance reads today that a a major site plan that's over 50,000 square feet would have to go to the board to the city commission for approval if it anything under um does not require a city commission approval it just requires administrative staff approval that doesn't mean that they still don't have to meet all the guidelines within the code they still have to meet the VHS they still have to meet the um the screening requirements from adjacent properties they would still have to meet all the architectural standards so this is why this this zoning ask is to make consistent guidelines so we're looking at one set of guidelines instead of trying to make two different guidelines work that are not currently working today right I get it but if one set of guidelines is parking in the front one set is in the back I'm not sure how that affects us can you tell me which which one of these is part parking in the front versus parking in the back so the uh Highway would be parking in the rear um instead of the hotel being pushed back to the to the to the rear property line um the urban Highway has some other um design criterias that they would that we just recently adopt that they have to do a whole tree uh Landscaping along us one to widen the sidewalks for pedestrians to walk um add some shade there so there is a benefit that's still the front of the property and their concern is the back the property they would still have some um screening requirements that they would have to do from the residential to their property so can I ask I know this is not what we're considering today but how many stories is this hotel going to be I do believe right now it is four stories yes so the four stories at the back of the property I'm not telling you what to think but just in my thinking is if it's four stories at the back of the property they're going to be looking down across the creek where if you push those four stories closer to us one and you have parking lot behind you're not going to have a four-story building as close to your property looking down over you so if that whether parking's in front or back to me I think I'd rather have the parking closer to my property and not have the four story looking down on my property but again that's not what we're deciding today it's just a food for thought and there's a Creek in between where the the this so let me ask a question so because there's a creek to the same residential standards because technically there's a creek right behind it not a house but do you have to abide by the same standards even though it's the creek and not a house yes you still have to abide by the same standards there's yes okay answer is yes okay and then um one other question so it says that it can be approved administratively if it's under if we have residents such as these lovely people here who are concerned can we then ask that it come before for us or does it automatic that it needs to go to be administratively done the code does specifically state it if it's under 50,000 square feet it is approved administratively okay so we don't even get an option I'm asking kind of the attorney sorry um so if they're straight zoning so they're just switching to zoning if you recall puds or custom zoning if anytime you make a change in a PUD it would come back before the boards in this case they can go straight Zoning for this size property and not have to go before a board um unless they want to deviate from the code for like a conditional use type thing then that would come before the board okay so even though they're going to be doing a large scale development because of the they stay within their zoning then they don't they can do administrative approval is that what you're telling us the size and you heard the director over here just say under 50,000 square foot which this project is I don't know but I I'm assuming that's what it is how many square feet is this it's right around 49,000 oh good lord what a surprise uh I mean but that is the line I mean it's under 50,000 so U if if a project under 50,000 square feet then the the code says that the uh director has the authority to prove it administrative unless they're trying to deviate from the code I mean we've we have a code in place because we want folks to be in compliance with the code without having to come for deviation you know so our code is there for a purpose and if they're going to stay within the code City's position that's a good thing if they're going to deviate from the code they got to come in and have permission but I guess my concern is they may have to do that we we don't know that right now yeah no no uh but my concern is that as representatives of the public we like to make sure that the Public's voice is heard not just by staff but by us as representatives of the community so this is when I have a bit of an issue particularly when it's sitting just slightly under the requirement which somebody obviously was very smart to make sure they wouldn't have to come before so that's when I have a problem well we are in a public forum today yes they're free I assume there's other folks here that are going to speak they can speak today on the matter okay um and we already had one lady come up and and speak okay for public comment so as far as speaking to a board they can do that right now so but they don't but we don't have the details of the actual plan right now so then that is very hard because you don't understand the details to be able to speak to them so it's kind of not really I guess is my point well not every project that is a not every application goes before the board they're straight zoning they don't have to go before the board we are trying to encourage folks to be straight zoning yeah um again if this project a lot of projects have to deviate from the code and get permission I I I we just don't know has the plan been presented like do we have preliminary plans does it look like it's going to be straight zoning does it look like it's going to come before a board or does it look like it's not asking for exceptions I I I I can't answer that there's nothing in yet okay I do believe the applicant the applicant has submitted some resubmittals in return um this is where the resoning was requested to be consistent with one set of guidelines um so so I do believe the applicants waiting for the rezoning to be approved or considered and then from there they will resubmit with the one set of guidelines it's very difficult to try to use two different types of guidelines When what when the property that's in question doesn't even um flank The Frasier Creek so uh now just for um some reassurance they do have to do um substantial architectural D guidelines in the urban Highway along actually the frontage and along Sixth Street and we are requesting certain things that they would bring to sidewalk down so there's connectivity uh they are going to address their storm water uh I do know there's some storm water issues along Channel Avenue and they're going to address it on their site that will hold probably will retain all their storm water that will probably help out with u channel Avenue or Sixth Street where I do know that they've experienced some flooding um they also have to do public art requirements so and there some deviation for Heights so they they are working through that right now okay so is there a possibility before we approve this as one of the conditions that they must have a public meeting with to present the project to homeowners for them to provide comment so we can't condition a reasoning application but we can certainly um uh go ahead and request that from the applicant to prepare some type of uh meeting for the public to attend or to come and look at the plan okay one other comment so it appears that the crematorium in the back is going to be removed okay um which is good for the Neighbors one thing that I have seen that has been successful when you have neighbors that are very concerned about a parking lot in a tall building if you're able to develop that landscape plan in the back and show the sight lines what they're going to see as far as a parking lot in the the building from the four-story how they're going to be impacted I think that's going to help a lot absolutely a visual is there anything in place in the code now to protect like light pollution into the neighboring adjacent prop like Residential Properties yes sir they would have to submit a photometric which shows zero at the property line so they're not flooding or doing light pollution over spillage onto the creek and also onto adjacent properties in actually in us one as well okay okay yeah we one of the applicants asked in the audience how do we get to see the plans um you're more than welcome to call our office you can sit down with us any time uh right now we don't have a resubmittal so I can show you what they presented in the past but because we've been trying to get the consistent guidelines but once they do uh we can we can certainly work with uh this group as well I'd also like to add that this will go before the board City commission two two public hearings okay uh in the future so they would have time to get with staff perect and then speak their mind to the city commission okay that's our main concern but when it goes before the commission it'll still be just for the straight zoning and not the site plan correct that that's correct that it's a limited issue just like this is a limited issue before you today but that doesn't um prevent that there might be a deviation from the code requirement by the developer and it will have to go before the board on some other issue okay we have another public comment Robert Hamilton Mr Hamilton good evening evening sir I live just north of Frasier Creek and some of these people are our neighbors first of all I like to thank the board and I think some of your suggestions were really good I think what would alleviate a lot of the concerns and problems and uh Madam and and vice Madam you brought it up if the developers could just sit down with them because the the big concerns I hear is like the light pollution your your light pollution is different in a parking lot than against a building so they might have options the options might be like you suggested uh that we move the building to the back that would might make it more secure I think the other thing that was concerning them was uh the vegetation and then security those are the main things and my neighbors are very reasonable people they're very nice people and I think it would help everybody if the developers sat down and just heard them because I think it could be worked out like on a reasonable man standard and make everybody happy thank you for your time thank you very much for your comment does the applicant have anything else you would like to add to this based on the concerns that we have had brought up just wanted to comment um that there is there will be Landscaping along that front edge along Fraser Creek to make sure that the view of the structure is not visible and the parking lot will be minimized from across the creek would want to note that that that Frontage along Frasier Creek if you can see that red line because of where the actual parcel that's being rezoned is doesn't have any Frontage about 100 feet so it's not again it's not the entire length of that property uh because there's an intervening house just to the east of where the property will be rezoned um but there is a plan to uh landscape that and I'm happy to we can have that for the uh City commission when we come back for for can you address or perhaps um the gentleman that you've brought with you who is part o I believe owner of the property the concern and the desire for them to meet with the developer so that they can learn more are you willing to do something like that I mean I'm happy to discuss with some of the neighbors to see what their concerns are and if there's some reasonable way that we can address those okay happy to do that okay wonderful thank you very much I appreciate it yes ma'am I hear we have another comment or I saw that we did Jerry Johnson okay please come good evening board my name is Terry Johnson and I have two units in steuart executive across the um Frasier Creek couple things I'd have to ask the board is if approving this zoning tonight allows them to put a four-story building on that property I think we're doing Injustice to the neighbors everywhere up and down Federal Highway there there's no other four-story buildings so if that allows them to put a four-story instead of a three-story building I think we really need to consider changing the zoning with the impact it could have uh widespread and so I'd hate to see you make a decision without knowing exactly what's going to go on there if you go up and down to the bridge or down to pass Home Depot there's another four storying building in Stewart okay okay thank you thank you I appreciate it does this change like if it was Urban if the whole parcel was Urban Waterfront instead of urban Highway would it change whether or not they were allowed four stories so the urban Waterfront does require a three story and then there's some some language that they can have achieve a second Story I mean a fourth story however majority of this property is urban highway so the building has to be brought up to the front of Federal Highway so it has that more Frontage it's kind of the same as your Hampton in along that Corridor but there is some some deviations to the height so it's just not a straight Square building and that's what we're that's what those design guins were put in place so you just don't have a a large four-story building there's some elements that you have to deviate that you have to bring it in and out so when you drive along the corridor you don't just have the straight wall okay do we have any other comments any other comments from the public any other comments from the board just a question do we know if there's any outdoor activity allowed on the third and fourth floor facing treasure Creek no is there any restrictions on any outdoor activity open L ey or anything like that as far as being third fourth floor uh no there is some conditions there is in the design guidelines for urban Highway and also an urban Waterfront that they their air conditioners if they have outside air conditioners cannot be exposed on the outside so they do have to have some type of uh facade balcony um it doesn't have to be a true balcony but it does have to give you some type of balcony look they do have to adopt all those type of um on the front side and the rear so it gives you that element so it's just not like I said straight uh wall right all right thank you do we have any other comments do we we need to we have to stick with the original proposed motion should we restate the motion I can if you'd like okay so board member St made a motion to approve um with Mr Bulls seconding the motion I'm ready to call roll call whenever you are can but weren't we did we say that we could do a motion to allow it with a public meeting was that something that was decided that we could do that we could require a so we can't we can't re put any restrictions on a rezoning we can't okay but we can certainly request the developer uh we did hear the um residents and we will certainly work with the developer to try to work with the with get the residents so they can actually see the plans before they go for any type of approval Okay so so with the motion which I know we can't required as part of the motion but I think we've done this in the past where we've made the motion but with a recommendation attached not an actual like approval but recommendation as part of it that we make sure that they have a public meeting or hearing to help address the concerns of residents i' let the City attorney chair chair can we ask that it not be a public meeting but a a neighborhood meeting oh a neighborhood meeting that's fine a neighborhood meeting is totally fine yes and we can so we can have that as the part of the recommendation okay wonderful now we can do go down the line board member bus yes Vice chair Peterson yes board member Bogle yes board member strum yes chair lorine yes and board member bramfield yes all right wonderful thank you very much all right um item number seven zoning in progress Land Development code text amendments implementation quas judicial ordinance number 2539 d202 an ordinance of the city Commission of the city of Stuart Florida amending and restating the city's Land Development code chapter 2 zoning District uses allowed density intensity chapter three special zoning codes chapter five resource protection related development standards and chapter six on-site and off-site development standards which were determined during the zoning in progress under Section 1.4.4 Stewart Land Development code providing for conflict providing for codification providing for an effective date and for other purposes uh thank you chair um if I could um staff is requesting for a postponement to a date certain uh for the uh local planning Agency for to be held on February 6 2025 okay would anybody like to make a motion to approve the uh is it's not called a continuance it's called a postponement this time either one either one works okay continu I continuance to February 6th February 6th okay I move to I'll second all in favor any opposed okay fantastic can I ask a question so I know this time and it kind of came up quickly we were not going to be able to see the recommendations ahead of time now that we're M pushing it out I know y'all are really busy but is there a chance that we're going to get to see these before they come before the board so that we can kind of be looking at them and not just like hey what do you think on the fly so we will be providing a striketh through in underlined uh ordinance showing where it's deviating and where the at new language is being added so we will get that ahead of the meeting like with the agenda yes ma'am and that's that type of gets advertised it was advertised okay yes okay fantastic all right um staff update Advisory Board orientation review and public records presentation okay [Music] fantastic all right my turn good afternoon uh my name is Mary Kindle I'm the city clerk for the city of Stewart and my myself and Lee baggot uh the City attorney are going to be co-presenting so um I wanted to First congratulate uh Mr vogle and Mr BS on your appointments and congratulations to the rest of the board as well for your reappointments so we're happy to have you um I first before I get started on the PowerPoint I wanted to talk to you about there's a packet that was left on your uh in front of your seat and it's um just kind of a a paper copy of the orientation packet for those of you who've been on the board you're aware that we've sent things electronically in the past we still do do that and intend to do that but um we wanted to provide you some things just for your reference especially um there's the guide to the sunshine booklet that is a very important document it's very helpful and a lot of times if we send the link we're a little nervous excuse me my voice is catching but we're a little nervous that people don't necessarily go in and read it so we figured we'd we'd provide you a hard copy there's also a calendar there of the meeting calendars for um or all the public meetings for 2025 as well as a few other helpful things the electronic copy will be sent to you probably this next week uh maybe even tomorrow if we get around to it um but that will include also some additional information like boundary maps for the city of Stewart the CRA just so when things are brought before you you're comfortable in knowing the city boundaries and things okay well um I'm talking to you today about public records um and and just wanting to give an overall brief training of what is expected of the board so in this presentation we're going to review public records law and who it applies to board members responsibilities um what is a public record and what to do if you receive a request so just kind of going down the line I don't want to read slide you know everything on the slide but these are kind of important um little facts it says the public records law applies to elected and appointed board members so you as the LPA it does apply um board members are responsible for preserving and trans the transfer of public records to the of their possession to the city and uh to respond to public records requests when requested I will tell you it is not very common for LPA to get public records requests so this is this is just more for your information sometimes when there are Hot Topics in the community it's happened the past where we know with Costco and some other projects then yes people do come out of the Woodworks and they want to know certain things but on a regular basis you're not going to have you know public records requests but um basically it's important to know what records should be submitted to the city so we're going to go over that and what to do when you receive a request so um there we go um what is a public record basically um it is any record made in connection with any business that is going to come before the board or anything related to the city so um the actual definition includes um but is not limited to paper letters Maps books tapes photographs videos recordings voicemails text messages emails and social media posts um it doesn't matter where it's kept or how you received it it matters what the message is so the content is what we're looking for for if somebody has City related business but you have it on your cell phone or you have it at your desk at home you know it doesn't matter where you have it it is a public record if it pertains to City business okay is the public records law applicable to elected and appointed boards yes it is most definitely um anything that we said is received or created in connection with board related duties is considered public record so just always keeping that in mind as you're you're receiving things and we kind of well I'll go into that in a minute sorry I'm getting ahead of myself um the boards that it includes that everybody's responsible to um abide by Sunshine Law is the commission CRA crb LPA and eack which is our East Stewart historical advisory committee and um so this is just kind of little um bits of information here you're legally responsible for the preservation and the transfer of those records when we say transfer that's like when we ask you for them for you to submit them to us you can't say no I don't feel like it or oh I just deleted that you need to produce the records that you have um This legal obligation to transfer public records extends to records that exist on personal devices or in personal accounts all records should be preserved and maintained even after they are transferred to the city and when I say that that means if we get a public records request so this you know project that's going to come before you in March is kind of a a Hot Topic so if you get a public records request for any of your correspondents anything on email we are going to be able to to obtain and I'm going to go into that but anything like say you receive a text from a friend who's saying tell me about this project and you start communicating about how you feel on the project or you know you've received other information in another way that is all public record and you would have to produce that do you have anything else you want to add to that up to you no okay um just stop me and interrupt whenever okay so basically upon your appointment board members um all LPA members like I said um you're all part of um a board that has to produce public record and is part of the Sunshine Law are you is everybody aware of what the Sunshine Law is because I didn't really yeah everybody okay um so um you're going to receive notification from us our city clerk's Department which like we talked about a lot of that paper copy is what you have and then electronically you'll receive it too but um it's also about um an email address the city of Stewart provides the LPA uh members a city assigned email address that is so in the event that you have public record we can obtain that for you we have access to all of it if as long as it goes through the city email so what we suggest is if you were to receive an email on your personal device or in your personal email account just forward it to your city email it does stay in say state in here that um we we recommend that you also copy us uh you know somebody at the city it's not necessary but it's an extra step if you're interested in doing that but um let's see it also mentions Financial disclosure um some of you may already be aware of that and have done that in the past um as an LPA board member you are responsible to file with the commission on ethics um annually and it's due July 1 of every year there is a grace period they don't come after you right away but um it's it seems a little intimidating at first it's filed electronically but it's it's not too bad and once you've done it it's it's pretty easy and we'll be able to help you there's information in your packet on the financial disclosure too and some websites or information that you could go to for more information okay um so upon your appointment this just kind of touches base the very first one does not apply to LPA so we can skip the green box um but all boards um are to receive training and that's what we're doing here tonight the orientation packet like we talked about um and then documentation that's that booklet that's in your red folder er um that is the guide to the Sunshine Law for public officials and employees um and then there's board bylaws what we did is we broke down the board bylaws um instead of being a separate document just on bylaws we entered all the information into our code of ordinances so the bylaws are the same as the code and that paperwork is also in your folder there so um let's see we also have um if you're issued a city email um you must correspond through that email we ask that you don't do separate messages in your own personal email like we said pass them on to your city email there's a suggested statement here um that we ask you to put on any personal email if you know it came in um and it's City business it's referring them to use your city assigned email address and anybody who doesn't who hasn't been set up with one we're going to get you set up can I ask a quick question just because this did come up last week where a member of the press sent a note to my personal email I have no idea how he got it um asking him to call me or me to call him and I did not respond at all but do I I think you said we don't have to respond but I don't have to respond if I choose or are we required to send this to them if they send it to our personal well this I mean you're just hearing of this now and that's a particular situation um I think that was a situation with a reporter who was asking you for information on something that hadn't even come before the board yet so that was the recommendation you don't need to respond you can call and say I have no comment I haven't even heard this project yet so you know I don't have any information not to respond at all which is fine but I think in general um I don't know you're it's they're not mandated to respond to a public comment right right correct you're not required to make a public comment you are required if they do a public records request and as as a lawyer sometimes there's a public records request in their request to talk to you so you got to look at it kind of closely are they asking for any documents right and and that makes sense sometimes they're hidden in and you don't see it and it's kind of you know and then if you don't respond they sue you so you got to be careful with that so when you do get a request make sure read through it that they're not asking you for records in addition to to uh statement but you do not have to make a statement I decline to make statements all the time you are free as well um for sure so okay U I don't know if this is a good time for me to talk about some of the stuff all right I'm gonna step in and and kind of uh talk about a couple of things first off I want to say uh Mary and I are available to all of you at any time um I would rather you bother us don't feel like you're a bother to us uh or a pest to us I want to hear if you got a question I'd rather help you go through the the sunshine and and public records than become a problem later and it's costly to you and the city uh because you can get in trouble with these I uh I know uh folks in Martin County have gotten in trouble under these laws and Port St Lucy I've worked at both of them they've gotten in trouble under these laws and you don't want to be that person that gets in trouble under these laws and just because you're an Advisory Board member doesn't make you any less um subject to the law than than a than a commissioner and and you're going to probably have a lot of people email you personally hey you got this coming up they're not going to email your City address they're going to if they know you uh that's why we put you on this board because you're locals and people are going to know you and probably have some project coming into the city and they're going to try and reach out to you um and and and that's not uncommon uh or they more more common is texting and another way they're going to communicate with you is by social media and and that's probably the worst you know at least an email you can forward an email to your city email address but how do you do that social media you know especially if it's instant messenger uh or even an email in in like Facebook uh I'm not involved in all of the social media but I would recommend just not I mean you guys are your board members so I would be very cautious about even being actively talking about City business on on on Facebook and I want to or any other social media and um I wanted to talk to you about a recent case this is going to be a new area of litigation in social media and public records so you know Sun Florida Sunshine and public records go hand in hand um there's a Florida Sunshine manual has both of those issues in there so the the Sunshine Law is you want to have your meetings in the sunshine in the light you're not hiding behind closed doors which would be shade does that make sense so that's why they call it the sunshine so it's open so you guys got to be real careful not to talk to each other about um um items that's coming before you me you might be friends and you can talk socially but I I would be very careful even in that instance because you could be even the appearance if you're talking in the parking lot um you know even the appearance someone who has application that you've rejected or denied you know a recommendation they could ACC use us of stuff and and the city has we we're in a current litigation on one of the development applications that's come through about a year ago and it came before this board so um these things do end up in litigation and then you're under the microscope then not only is it a public record but you got subpoenas depos and and and and so that's why it's important to um to to listen to what Mary's saying on these records but um a new area of litigation is is your social media account a public record and and and so there's a litigation case that I have some examples here that I just wanted to share with you because that question when I go to seminars within the last year that's like us lawyers are talking about that a lot because uh I have social media so I I've almost got to the point where I'm not doing anything um you know posting on a comments on everybody else or even though I want to I have opinions just like everybody else but that could become a public record I'm subject to the law just like you guys are but I wanted to talk about a case it's beay versus scambia County Board of County Commissioners and it's a two it's a 2000 started in like 2020 but it's got multiple opinions uh up until 2023 because litigation does take time to go through and there were so many cases that or so many issues that came up and the the judge made a written opinion this is in federal court in in Pensacola so um and it deals with a commissioner but the same rule applies to yall so I thought it was interesting um to to share with you some of what happened in this case um the first is interesting and this is a First Amendment claim that this this individual sued the commissioner and in it in one of his claims um the the the plain if bear alleged that the commissioner in his individual capacity acted up under the color of state law by operating his social media Pages as a public fora using the apparent authority of his office and blocked or restricted this um this plaintiff or a resident from access to his social media page so he was wanting access to their person their their their social media page was was labeled uh private you know only friends friends okay and he's suing because it's private and he wants to be able to go onto this commissioner's uh personal um Faceook page so the the court um the court ended up ruling in the social media context one of the issues that it says that you have to deal with is to determine whether a government official social media conduct constitutes State action uh courts focus on two main factors whether the official uses the account in furtherance of their official duties and whether the presentation of the account is connected with the official's position in this one the commissioner had a public commission social media page but he barely used it he used his personal one and so that this person was trying to get all of his personal stuff I mean you know your your kids photos and stuff like that so the court found in this in this particular issue um following an evidentiary hearing so everything was put out in the open that the commissioner was carrying out his duties as a commissioner by using his personally owned Facebook pages to conduct County Business which resulted in the creation of public records he invited discussions on the page in which he participated with his constituents you might be friends with people that live here and you're talking about an issue and uh using his title in his office and he informed users that the commissioner page was not private and would create public records so that's just an issue one of the issues in the case there was a second there issue that came before and and um and this was a year earlier the judge held a hearing and prepared um an order defining what constitutes a public record and the evidence showed that out of approximately 36,000 Facebook pages so this guy had to produce 36000 pages of his Facebook he produced 12,000 Facebook pages that he felt was related to the city work and he said 24,000 was Private I and I don't need to disclose that well the judge looked at those 24,000 pages in camera which means not out in the public and the judge found a bunch of those pages were business and he had to disclose that in the case so and then they had to pay attorney fees and all because these people proved that they were public records so I'm just giving you some examples this is a new area of Law and um I would just caution you on the on the social when stuff is coming up before your board especially um I wouldn't be out there and on top of it like tonight you had a um tonight you had uh a a a public hearing and and it was quasi judicial so you're not allowed to make an a decision on a project before you hear all the evidence so if you go out on S social media and people are against the project or for the project and you're giving your opinion um that that that applicant can use that against us that you you weren't open and and and waiting for the evidence before you made your decision and so that that can get us in trouble as well so I just wanted to give you some examples of new social media and this is all brand new stuff I mean some of these hear rulings I just went through they could be appealed and changed or made worse I I don't know but this is really new stuff and and and between texting and social media um it's a public records nightmare to be honest with you so true all right can I just add something to that um because it something he said just reminded me um we had a situation where um there was Facebook comments and things but then the person was taking a down comments they didn't like well we definitely can't have that because all of it is public record whether we like it or not or what somebody says you're not to delete any of it just mentioning that all right what if it's like to personal email or business email and you forward it to the city email can you then delete the personal one or you still have to keep recorded that what we ask I I mean once I received it for a public records request and that's what I was going to mention next I'm going to go over it on this slide just ways to submit but so say we contact you the clerk's office contacts you because we have a public records request for you or your information or LPA the board you know so we ask you to sub submit everything to us and there's several different ways depending on what you know you have social media posts text messages different things um if it's email like we said we have access to that we wouldn't even bother you for that information but we probably would we would still ask you what personal emails do you have or any other correspondents that you have in media that we don't have access to but tell me again what so that so let's say I somebody my business email I just forwarded it to the city email can I delete that email on my business one or do I have to keep that you can delete it if you send it and you forward it to the city's email it's documented we have it but we do ask you um that say we have a public records request and it's for all your emails and you do find um some personal information you turn it over for that public records request we've collected it we've provided it to the requester but then we ask you to still hold on to your information if you have something on a personal device that is something like because if then another request comes in two months later for the same thing we're still going to go back to you ask you for that information because it's not our responsibility to hold on to your records and though they've been fulfilled we don't want to to turn around and tell another requestor we have everything we've we've collected from this person we still go back to you and say submit that information to us so as long as you're on the board we ask that you hold on to the records when you separate from the board that's when you turn everything over to the city and you can delete everything so that's why we encourage I'm actually getting ahead of myself because some of this is in future slides but while we're talking about it um but we encourage you to um to just not use those mediums for City business or anything that may come before the board it'll save you a whole lot of hassle if we do have public records requests but so this is just I mean this is kind of common sense it's just ways to submit to us so of course if there's text messages there's software available if you have that um otherwise a lot of people use just a screenshot they'll take a picture of the text message even if it's you know several Scrolls long but um and then you just email that to yourself or email that to us when it's requested but it's kind of nice to have that documented that you don't have to hold on to the tag okay and then um there records that are related to City business yes um that are not public record so um there's different things very very little we always error on the side of caution I say just keep it if you're not sure definitely keep it but um there's notes I mean I use sticky notes all the time those are notes for my information those are not public records I throw them in the garbage at the end of the day you know um but there are anytime you share information it then becomes public record even if it was a personal note like say you're sitting here in the meeting and you're writing all over your agenda and then you share your thoughts when you when it's your turn to speak that then is a public record you shared the information that you jotted down and communicated and then usually a lot of times um you'll go ahead and hand that into to the clerk because she can keep that record for you you don't have to take it home and hold on to it does anybody have any questions on that if if someone requests that like a public record's request can we just refer them to you because we've turned it in yes and they would really request it most likely through us anyway and if we know we had your notes from that meeting we would just Supply them we wouldn't even bother you and we've gotten that request recently yes there's quite a few that come in after meetings if we get a public records request can we just in General say contact office and then let you decide whether or not it's something we need to comply with and what we need to comply now public I wouldn't just start we would you definitely let the city handle it we would take care of it for you and then we communicate to you what we need from you but we take down the request and we fulfill the request um let's see there's also a lot of exemptions that could apply you know you had medical information on there or if your spouse is a police off officer and you know there's all kind of exemptions that we don't have to uh disclose so we would be more aware of that than you right so this one is um go ahead I'm sorry if I went out to a site like I went on six Street hotel and I happen to meet let's say the owner of the property or something just happen to be there is there some public record that's the created from so that's an expar communication that you have uh I mean if if it's your friend and you're talking about the sport game but if you're talking about this thing that's coming before the board um this particular application yeah that would be an expar communication with him or her and and and so um when Kelly started the the meeting she said anybody have any exp part take community that would have been the time to disclose it you don't have to have a document of it if you had a communic if it was a phone call you would need to disclose that I spoke to the applicant or I I spoke with him on the phone or I met with him at the site that would have been the time to to disclose that as long as you disclose that information before you vote um then it gives the opportunity for the applicant to address that communication you might have communicated with someone who opposed the project um and that was here today as an intervenor or something that would be an expart and that rarely happens but that would be an expart communication and actually the applicant would be able to cross-examine you about that conversation so just to remind you that when you're in a quasi judicial you're putting on a different hat normally you're in a legislative hat um and then you go when you do the Quasi judicial you're putting on a Judicial hat a judge and so you're putting on and so in that um in that there's certain requirements um that must be met and that's why I have Kelly go down the um um know the list to make sure we hit them all right those are requirements and just like there's been times for those of us that have been in here for a while like if there's very big projects that come before us sometime those who are put forth the application will call and ask to meet with us ahead of time separately to provide us more information and that's just when you have to disclose that they dis you know discuss the project with you and it's not it's not wrong that they you meet with them ahead of time so that you can get more information leading into the meeting that's okay you just have to disclose it and the next slide um basically answers the question that Mr uh vogle had uh asked but basically um if someone comes to the city puts in a request great we take care of it people can request things through other people like they don't have to come to the clerk's office to do it and they could submit a request in several different ways so if you are talking to somebody who says I want the records from I saw you writing down on the Das some things I want that paperwork just direct them to us because it's not your responsibility to take the public records request you can take the information and then just pass it on to us but it's technically against the law to deny accepting a public records request so um they could stop somebody could stop the person cutting the lawn for the city of Stewart and ask them for a public records request for the city and that person is responsible to take down the information and pass them on to us but basically um it's just pretty simple we just ask that um you know we're going to contact you we ask that you search your files if there's only Communications like we said uh using your assigned City email then you really have nothing to worry about the city does the searching for you but if you we are still going to ask you to do a thorough search and if you have anything and you know you have something you just submit it um upon resignation or ation of your term to this board then we ask that all documentation that you may have other than your city assigned email address you wouldn't have to do anything with that but anything that you may have text messages social media posts um other emails on a personal account that we ask that you turn in our office and so we would contact you and remind you of that at the end of your term so let's see um here's some legal information just you know if it goes to court and you can see some up up there I mentioned attorney fees later um you know there are a lot of creative lawyers out there that will sue us on on a public records request and if they Prevail they get their fees and it's you know it's about four or 500 bucks an hour now these days um trying to prove a case that they will get obviously they're not suing for money they're they're suing for attorney's fees you know so it's kind of like a gotcha law so you got to be worried about that and you can see up there that there's no cap on attorney's fees and uh they can get up there a lot and and and it's very you can see it's a criminal charge so um you know a county commissioner had a criminal charge uh for public records a few years back and she had to defend herself in criminal court for weeks she she she was exonerated but um you don't want to have to deal with that so um and and so you can also see uh a non-criminal infraction of $500 um I I think some board members uh uh in another local city had to pay infractions of $500 you also see um I think it's not up there but public censure that you where they just state that you violated the law without any penalty that could be another and that's not on there but also you could also be removed um and being held individually liable in civil court that that would be the attorney's fees but it it they would be going after the city more than you um so we would have the deep pocket um but still you don't want to have to go through that process you know and then I know we've taken in a lot of information just in general along with your packet and stuff but just kind of uh sum up uh the takeaways from this um it's actually quite simple just basically LPA is subject to the Sunshine Law and public records law it is your respons ability to maintain all board business related records except the city emails um you will be contacted by the city if a public records request is made for your record and um you just do your best to limit other um means of communication about City related um and then when separation from the LPA occurs then we collect any public records that you would have so it it pretty much boils down to that any other questions all right please reach out to us though if you have any don't feel like you're going to bother us we'd rather we'd rather you feel um comfortable with coming to us about any questions we're we're your attorney and your city clerk too so thank you very much thank you have ma' oh wait I gotta call so our next meeting is now before I adjourn because I think I've I haven't officially adjourned yet is February 6 so even though the applicant asked that they be moved now to March we're still going to keep the February 6th date instead of our normal meeting date correct yes okay right and February 6th is going to be Z correct yes okay any other questions before we leave no meeting isurance