The regular session of the Board of Commissioners of the City of Tarpon Springs. Tuesday, December 9th, 6:30 p.m. Roll call please. Mayor Kelly here,
vice Mayor Eisner here. Commissioner here. Commissioner de Donato here. Commissioner Banther here. Tonight our reflection will be handled by
Reverend Milton Smith, first responders, chaplain. And it will be followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Please stand. Oh.
Exodus. We pray. Lord, we thank you for this beautiful day. We thank you for this night that we have gathered here for this Board of Commissioners meeting.
We pray for our city leaders, our mayor, vice mayor, commissioners that you would just bless them and lead them as they lead the city. Pray for our city manager and all of the
staff that work under him. We pray, Lord, for our first responders, for our police and fire to just be with them, protect them as they protect this city. We thank you Lord
for this season and we pray that we always remember the reason for the season and let there be peace on earth. In his
name we pray. Amen. Amen. 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. Tonight we
have a special presentation. The 2025 annual Point in time count and HUD funding shifts.
And it will be we, our presenters are Cheryl Barker, CEO, Homeless Leadership Alliance of Pinellas, and
Kathleen Beckman, chair of the Pinellas Continuum of Care Board. So would you please come
up and make your presentation, please? Thank you again for allowing us to present. My name is Sherry Walker. I'm Kathleen.
Thank you. And we're going to try to keep it very brief within our ten minutes. So so we're going to get right into it. But thank you. Is your mic on. Can you check to see if
your mic is on little button right there. Now it's working I'm Sherry this is Kathleen. Nice to meet you. So no more introductions. But except for
who we are. So what is a continuum of care? The continuum of care. And like other continuums of care throughout the country, they're all nationwide. We're a countywide network, so we just
cover Pinellas of funders, providers, municipalities, and any community member who has an interest in ending homelessness or reducing it. In Pinellas County, they establish local
priorities and policies so we can have a coordinated system. And that last slide really doesn't matter. That last piece, the HLA, the Homeless Leadership Alliance, we serve as the lead agency for the
continuum of care. We have an MoU in place with them. And so we're basically the staff we help with. We submit the annual HUD federal application for
funding for this, the county. And we also coordinate the point in time count, which I'll talk about tonight, as well as system planning and supporting any providers who want or are looking for state, local or
federal funding to get that those funds. So the annual the 2025 point in time count, we call it the pit count, is an annual snapshot of homelessness.
It's really a census. It's not just one day. It's what happened the night before. Volunteers go out the next day, they conduct surveys, they collect those, and then we report those back to Congress and to the state. And that
informs a lot of policy and funding decisions from there on out. Our Pinellas County is special because we actually create a very lengthy analysis, a report that goes out as well,
and it covers jail data, school data, and just additional analysis than is required by HUD. Overall findings. And this
again was from last January. And we're getting ready to have another pet count. We do it every year on January 29th. And we welcome anyone anyone. You will be trained. You will not
be left out alone to do your own thing. Train on how to do conduct the survey. And they are three hour shifts and that's going to be on January 29th. If you have an interest
in that Pinellas County. Org is where to go. But in 2025, the overall findings for sheltered homelessness, we had 1325 people. Sheltered means they're in emergency shelter,
transitional housing, but still not in their own place. Unsheltered homelessness. So that's literal homelessness. People who are living in places not meant for human habitation,
538 people in the whole county, for a total of 1863. Pinellas County Jail had 125 people that day. And then Pinellas County schools. And this is really important because with the pit
count, we're looking at one night, like I said, a census with Pinellas County schools because of Mckinney-vento and because of relationships between students and teachers and counselors that are built
up and and families that this count is actually a little bit more this is unsettling, and it gives us a more realistic picture of what homelessness looks like in Pinellas. It is
for a it's a cumulative count from August 10th to January 27th, 3623 students. And that is 4% of all the students in Pinellas County schools were
considered homeless throughout that time, and 113 of them were unsheltered. So literally homeless. This was the lowest
count that we've had recorded in Pinellas. There was a 12% overall decrease from the last year, and the biggest decrease was around unsheltered. So
that's a literally homeless folks, less than 25% decrease from the previous year. There are some things to note about this last count. I think there's actually something to note about the count. Before we
had a lot of volunteers in 2024, 2025, we had the hurricane, so we had 122 less fewer volunteers. And so that definitely affected. We did not have like a deployment in
Tarpon Springs last year. In the past, we have we still saw a slight uptick in homelessness in Tarpon Springs compared to other counties or other cities. There was also the Anti-camping
legislation, so some folks were more were more difficult to reach. They were maybe out in the woods a little bit deeper. But having said that, however, there are also there's a reason
why this has been going down. And one of it are some things are not because of little asterisks, but because there's actually good work that's happening and that have made an impact. And so there's been
increases in funding for prevention and diversion. We know that works if you can prevent homelessness. Homelessness, your dollars go a lot further. And you don't have an eviction on someone's record.
And it doesn't become a snowball effect where it's difficult, more difficult to get a rental after that. And the trends have been consistently trending down
since 2016. So that has been shown in those increases in funding. I look at this slide
for a moment. Make sure I'm on time. Yes. So Tarpon Springs and Clearwater you can see, had a slight uptick this last year while the other cities went
down in their unsheltered counts. It's you can see, though, that having a slight uptick that looks like it could be just a few people. There is
what that's showing. Who is in fact affected. There was an increase in older adults, and we're really noticing that 62 to 65 that just those three
years right before that retirement age or when someone may be eligible for Social Security, that that is completely disproportionate from the rest of the population,
that is, that that three year period is is a good chunk of compared to the rest of the categories we look at. There was a slight increase in veterans in both sheltered and
unsheltered categories. There were 189 survivors of domestic violence. Black and African American individuals make up 38% of Pinellas County. I'm
sorry, the Pinellas homeless population and 11% they make up 38% of the homeless population, 11% of the county. So there's there's there was a difference.
Notice there disparities of sorts. And 41% of the homeless students I was discussing earlier reported by Pinellas County schools are also black or African American, 494
experienced chronic homelessness. And so that's more of the visible homelessness we see on the streets. And mostly male like
76% unsheltered and 62% sheltered. Definitely noteworthy when we talk about primary causes, there are many causes. And then there's secondary things, effects and
there's, you know, egg and chicken and all that. But when we think about primary causes, some of the stereotypes or the information we hear out in just common information may not be
that accurate. And from our survey. And this also checks with other counties as well. In other areas the number one is financial and job losses. 40% of the people. That was the primary reason that they were
homeless. Medical issues followed that medical debt, medical, anything having to do with medical disability, family issues, 14% and then finally
eviction and foreclosure. We had the fifth one up. There would be natural disaster from the hurricanes. Would you like
to talk about Alice? Yeah, yeah. I think it's important to understand that the challenges we face in this county in particular, where our economy
is built on tourism and hospitality, those jobs don't pay a living wage. And so I think, you know, what an important report that I like to
cite is the Alice report from the United Way. It stands for asset limited, income constrained and employed individuals. So these are the working poor that are either on
the cusp of eviction or homelessness. They're struggling. They're literally paycheck to paycheck. And and with the cost of housing and rent, these are the people we
want to really reach out to to help and to ensure that they can stay housed. So our housing inventory doesn't match our
economic base, and we need to do more as elected officials, as state electeds, we need to do more to ensure that there's funding and incentives for
housing that matches our workforce. And so I would encourage you all and anyone listening to do Pinellas County Alice report Alice, and the
whole report is online. You can read it. And it's pretty alarming the amount of housing that's available for each income level, or the amount you
need to make in order to pay rent or mortgage. And what is working. And I want to add to the Alice report, a family of
four in Pinellas County right now, in order just to make the survival budget, needs to make $108,000. If you're covering child care and everything else, it really doesn't allow for
like savings. And that is the highest that the United Way Suncoast, where the highest county in their entire catchment area for that. So what's working is strong street outreach. We have amazing
relationships with law enforcement. Pinellas County Sheriff's Office is on our board. Permanent supportive housing has been working. That's for people with disabilities and who also have
experienced homelessness and need that extra support. They do contribute. They pay a portion of their income, whether it be government assistance like Social Security or SSI or insurance or income.
They pay a portion that's to back and they are very much so. They do contribute. There are more case managers that safe harbor again, that's run by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. More behavioral health
supports there. And then there's strong system coordination. So we have because of our big unique mix of folks on our board that
represent a lot of different entities. And we are able to have stronger responses. And then I just wanted to really quickly cover federal changes
that are going on with HUD right now. So they have they're shifting priorities and policies. It's a the biggest shift in the last couple decades, really more towards
shorter term crisis response and emergency shelters and reducing visible street homelessness and pulling back and capping some of the funds that a lot of the funds that we
were receiving in the past for that permanent supportive housing and Pinellas County, those funds go to like the bowling centers and to Casa. So it's for domestic survivors of
domestic violence and people with disabilities who need those extra supports. So we're looking at other ways to support that. And there's also strong emphasis on public safety and coordination with law enforcement, which
fortunately, fortunately, we do have those relationships. I just want to ask is that we have a designated seat for
Tarpon Springs, and so it's an appointed seat. And so if anyone on the commission, any of you commissioners are interested, we would love to have someone come represent.
And this is a way to have a voice in regional planning for those communities that may, you know, they're not they're not City of Saint Pete, you're not Clearwater. You have the same voice. Then you can be involved, and you can also be able to get
information, and you don't have to be on the clock to get information. You can reach out to us anytime and we'll provide that. But it is a good way to stay informed and to have a voice in the North County. And
we are looking for more representation from North County. So thank you. Thank you very much. I'm going to. Let's
go to we're going to go to commissioners and ask each commissioner if they have any comments or questions for you. Let me start off the on on the
slide you had that showed the breakdown of those who were homeless. I didn't see substance abuse on that. Is that where does that fit in? Is
that a family issue? Is that a medical issue like, oh, that's a good question for you. Had four slots up there. So substance abuse or substance misuse or mental illness did
not make those were separate categories. Further down they may. There's no it's not to take away the fact that that
exists of course, but it was not a primary cause for homelessness. Do you know the.
They say that the there's a large percentage of Americans I've heard numbers like 40 to
50% of Americans have less than $400 saved, that if they had a anything, any expense that happened that exceeded $400
that they would unable to cover that. So there's you can see where a lot of people are teetering close to financial
disaster. Right. And so of the and then you have, you know, I, I deal in, in a lot of divorces because I do forensic
accounting. And you see that when you have two household to household incomes and then a divorce happens and one of the
of the spouses is incapable of supporting the home. Right. So and I know I don't know how far you dug into all this, but there's a lot of it. The
breakup of the family unit, because that seems to be to create a again, a lot of these situations, like when you talk
about, you know, single moms or single single parents and a lot of them are the ones you don't. It's you don't see as many two
family, two two parent homeless situation. Right. With two parents homeless with a child, it seems like you see mostly
one, one parent and a child usually. Right. So you see that. And I'm not asking you for any commentary, I'm just making a observation. But it seems like
again, when we have those, we're when we're teetering economically so tight and so many people, whether it's, you know, the cost of living is so
expensive, the things we spend that we have as expenses beyond what our you know, my parents had, it's much harder to make
it. And then when you have a this the, you know, more than 50% of our of our married population is is dissolving marriages. You have a lot of,
you know, fathers leaving the household and leaving single moms. And you see a lot of that causing a lot of trouble. So, I mean, do you see a lot of that
in the breakup of the family unit? I haven't done I have not dug that deeply into it, although I would say that as many income, as much income as you can bring in would be good. However, what we do know is
that it's mostly single men who are homeless, right? So that makes up for the crisis system. That's what is is really what we're focused, what we see the
most. But they're single working age men, right? Yeah. And well, and I would add that what I was saying about the increase in that 65 plus,
that's where we saw increases. We've seen increases, decreases in other places in the senior population. So it's more and more single folks who are
getting older who are exiting that working age or have a disability. Yeah. All right. I was I have a question. I was just making an observation. But it obviously when you see this
these things, you know, it's important we all count our blessings because it's tough out there for a lot of people. So Commissioner Banther, I don't I don't have any
questions, but I do thank you for for the work you do. I served on this board in my one of my previous terms, and I appreciate what you do. And I would just encourage that, you
know, you know, especially like you mentioned that it's mostly, you know, single men. We see that mostly here in Tarpon Springs. I've seen the same people on the street for years
here, and oftentimes they refuse help. And, you know, we're not sure what to do. And then that and that leads into vagrancy. So any solutions that we can do to help these people,
which I assume is mostly mental illness to get to, to, to get the help they need is what we have to do. So I appreciate that. Thank you. Commissioner Donato, I just wish to thank
you very much for being here, and I very much appreciate what you're doing for our community and the homeless is an unfortunate thing, but I'm glad you're there. So thank you very
much for coming to Tarpon to present those stats. Commissioner Coolio's, yes, I want to thank you both for just doing great work and just trying to end the battle for
homelessness. And you brought up some great points in which I didn't realize with our hospitality and our tourism industry, and how those jobs really don't reflect a livable wage for many of those people
who fall in and out of that week to week pay situation. And so that was an enlightenment for me. I was the last Board of Commissioners member to serve
on the board over two years ago. And one thing I will say is there's that feeling there that we get left out at times. And,
and I would come to the meetings, I would have to drive there down south Saint Pete, you know. And so and even then I'm one I was one representative from Tarpon Springs and our organizations
weren't really there. Or maybe if there was a way to do a mixture of live stream as well as some physical attendance, because I understand that the charter requires some physical
attendance, but there's got to be a diversification to help get us a little bit more involved. Also, please, as the new CEO, I'm putting a little
pressure on you, ma'am, just to give you some enlightenment with our community. We have several organizations, but one that sticks out to mind is the Shepherd center, and they do a great job in feeding a lot of
people from all over the county and different ways. And so I would I would try to encourage them again to apply for the continuum process to help get
funding available, but just just try to give us a good look as CEO, because we have a few spots in the community that have been looked at for
potential. Movement for the Shepherd center to relocate, to help feed people, and we could use all the funding possible to help create that shelter, as well as that feeding area. For
many people, that is better. Well off for for the whole city as well as the county. So I just want to thank you both. And and Miss Beckman. She's awesome. She's everywhere and
anywhere she can be to help out the community. So thank you. Thank you. And may I just say, I live half a block outside of Tarpon Springs. I couldn't afford it. I had to go to holiday, but I still claim Tarpon Springs. That drive is
brutal, and we are looking at some actual options that will make it easier to attend board meetings. Thank you so much, Vice Mayor. Thank you. Mayor.
Did you look into how education or lack of education affects the homeless? I again, I so I would have to go and look into that a little bit deeper. But I
can say that there are people who are unhoused who are working and going to like Saint Vincent de Paul or emergency shelter, taking a shower, getting their meals or safe harbor and going to work again.
And also when we talk about the Alice report. So trying to prevent homelessness from happening, it's it's it's service workers. Absolutely. But nurses and teachers also
fall into this category as well. So it's professionals with master's degrees who may have a difficult time with that if they're making, especially if even with a family of four,
$108,000. And that is not you're not able to save. That's like just making it. That is the paycheck to paycheck number these days in Pinellas County. It blew my mind, but I believe
it. So then would you be possibly looking to try to see if putting mutual people together so that you can make it affordable? Because I do understand it's the fight
everybody in Tarpon has and all of Pinellas County has. It's just the you know, we can't change this right now. Electrics up, this everything's up. So the only thing you could
do is either make, you know, affordable housing or make it where mutual people can, like you do in college, where 2 or 4 people group up and live
together. So I don't know if that's something that you'd be interested in looking into. We we do have. So we do ask a question on the on the pit
count. So when we go out in January, one of the questions has to do with how much education do you have. So we can track that. And that's available on the report on the
website as well as the Cox website, the Big Pit report. But the other thing is, you know, there's there was I don't share you can correct me if I'm wrong, but there's Pinellas
County home Share, which is, you know, an organization that wants to match someone who owns a home that might have 2 or 3 extra rooms. You can, you know, envision a widow or widower or
empty nesters, and they have a home or a room, maybe a college student, you know, or an elderly person could live in that home or that room. The the challenge there is, you know,
to have enough, first of all, staff as a volunteer, how are they going to get paid? And then it's the critical piece is to really do a good match
between the homeowner and any borders or, you know, somebody that would be sharing that home. But I think we do have to get real creative about how to
expand housing options, and neighbors and neighborhoods have to be okay with that. Different configurations, you know, a rooming house in your residential neighborhood, is
that going to be okay? You know, it's just considerations that we have to think about. So for all the years that I had been
on Rotary and Rotary Club, I used to speak at all 49 clubs in Pinellas County, Citrus County, Pasco County. And there's always been a group
like yourself that's come before us to speak. Some of them that would make these buildings one room flats, and they would have people doing education. They would have
people teaching in finance. They would have people teaching, job recruiting and job training. They would have people writing resumes for them or teaching them how to write resumes.
These any types of things that you've been doing? Yes. So we're not a service provider so much. We help coordinate those providers as well. But yes, there's workforce development
opportunities. That is something that we've been putting a strong focus on is workforce development and beefing that up and making sure that we're making those appropriate referrals. We don't have to reinvent the wheel. If
Careersource does something well enough, we can make sure we're partnering with Careersource or other providers of that service, too. We've also had it in house for a
period of time. Who do you report to? I report to both the COC board and the Homeless Leadership Alliance board. So
the COC board reports to whom we. That's a good question. So the COC board, I sit on that board and I'm chair of that board. These are all
professionals in the community. So the Sheriff Gualtieri is on that board, although he sends a representative lieutenant. Hey, she's amazing. But the CEOs of
bowling center and perc and pas and casa and directions for living, all those big providers. And then the funders are people like entitlement community. So
those are the larger cities. So Clearwater, Largo, Saint Pete, Pinellas Park, I for one and, and the county and the county. And then we also have a
provider could be the Pinellas Community Foundation providing grants. So those are people who have money and and can allocate funds for all of those. Well,
the funders have the money that allocate funds to the providers in the community. And then the CoC, our board, we we develop
and agree on and vote on what are the priority populations, what are the priority interventions. And then we affirm the HUD allocations for the funding money. So it goes
through a rank and review process, grant process rank and review. And then we ratify that at the end. I have two short questions. You have your
cumulative count from August 10th to January 27th. Why just then? Because the school starts about August 10th, you know, and then January 27th was when
that point in time count happened. And so those are the number of children that were identified as being homeless during that period of time, not
on that one date. And so it's not part of the official report that goes up to HUD, but it's part of our picture of homelessness in Pinellas County.
And I'll tell you those numbers. You know, I'm a former public school teacher, and those numbers are striking. Over 3000 students in the county experience homelessness within
those 3 or 4 months. Those are the ones where parents feel safe enough to actually divulge that information to a teacher or counselor and say, I need
help, because a lot of times, and I've also been a guardian ad litem, parents are terrified of asking for help for fear that their children may be taken away from them. And so I
give a lot of credit to the Pinellas County schools for having that safe space for parents to reach out for help. One more and that's it, I won't.
You said you had 122 less counters. How many total counters do you have? Well, in 2024 there's around 400. So there were just shy of 300 last
year. This year we're trying to get back up to our 2024 level. So we are putting it out in social media, putting out constant contact in any way we can to get the word out. Most
of our most of our surveyors are people who take who volunteer, are have been law enforcement and and social service providers. And so there
are community members churches get involved. It is a great community building event as well. It's an opportunity to talk to somebody that you otherwise may not have talked
to in a nice, structured way. Just the reason why I asked that. I'm sure you realize I would have just did a little bit of math and added those 122
in, in a fraction. So, you know, if you added those, how many more people would have been in that count? Just, you know, we do that on, you know, forward Pinellas when we have X amount
of people. So you know that's why it's it's kind of a crude number that we are being presented. So I just would have actually said being there's 122
less adding those in if they were there, taking the number that you have with the 300, it would have just given you a more accurate figure. It it gets that's that's a good point. It does get a little bit more
complicated with the math, because there are a lot of duplicates that end up happening to. So there's like we have to duplicate. What we did do is we looked back. We have a researcher from USF who
does the analysis, and we work very closely with them. Did a look back at how many surveys were left out and and really and how many surveyors we've
had. And it was 20, 24. That was kind of the anomaly. 2024 showed a slight uptick. But then the previous the prior years before that, it was about the same number of surveyors as
this last year. So we were able to just look looking at the trend is really a good indicator. Well thank you for what you do. I'm sorry. We always appreciate volunteers to
help us with that count. You know, it's just a three hour shift. It starts at 6 a.m. I'm usually at Homeless Empowerment Program or Saint Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen in Clearwater because I live in Clearwater.
But, you know, you just chat with people and ask questions and they can pass on some questions, some they, you know, are required and you go out, you get trained. It's a video training and then you can go
you go out with other individuals who are with you. So you're not like sent out alone. But it's, you know, it's about connecting and humanity and really caring. And the more
accurate count we have impacts the funding that we receive, you know. Thank you. So thank you. I appreciate what you do appreciate you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Should we turn
this off? We'll turn this off. That's fine. Thank you. We're going to go to public comments. Anyone who would like to make a public comment that on any item
that's not on the agenda can please come forward. Please come forward. Give your state your name and your address, please. And you have three
minutes. Okay? Okay. I am Sue Swenson. Are you okay? I'm okay. Okay. And I live at three, two, seven Manatee Lane. I have a
couple of things I'd like to discuss. And I know I've said this before, but I really firmly believe that the commissioners should either attend or listen to the committee meetings. In fact, today I got a call from a
commissioner on a committee meeting that just occurred that I was in attendance at. This is not only a demonstration of your appreciation for each one of those committee members
volunteerism, but it also provides you all with valuable insights, potentially streamlining your time that you take with us and the applicant, and increasing productivity.
Furthermore, I suggest that committee members either attend or listen to the meeting of other committees because it would identify connections between topics which I see all
the time. Additionally, now, while I appreciate this is a broken record, the charm of the sponge docks in the downtown area, I think that Tarpon Springs has more to offer to ensure the city's continued
success. We must think out of the box as emphasized in Main Street Documentation corridor, such as North South Pinellas and MLK are vital to our community, property and
business owners in these areas are willing to invest if they see the city's commitment. I highlighted on Facebook recently the disparity between Tarpon Avenue's beautification
and the neglect of Pinellas Avenue, underscoring the need for mutual investment. Thirdly, I recently listened to I Haven't Been here for a while, so I recently listened to a
recording of the committee's meeting, and they discussed a project aimed at painting water drainage curbs slated for 2026. The committee prioritized five
areas, including, I believe, two on Tarpon Avenue, one on Safford, one on the sponge docks and one on or near MLK, which is great. However, none of the priority areas were
again on Pinellas Avenue North or South. It's worth noting that our tourists tend to drive through these corridors, forming an initial impression.
Next, police are present on Tarpon Avenue and the Sponge docks. And I believe and I heard a police officer say, that they have indicated that they asked their patrol officers if they are on or near
one of those sites to actually park their car and walk the street. In fact, one of my friends was appreciative for the day she was getting in front of her street. I also
heard that we have police officers now on bikes, which I did witness at at Craig Park. However, I have seen none of these walking or biking on Pinellas Avenue. Why do not we?
Why do we receive the same level of enforcement? Lastly, sustainability development relies on interconnected pillars. I know we've heard this before. Environmental
sustainability, social sustainability, and economic sustainability. I mean, we just heard these women speak a sustainable world prioritizes people's well-being economic,
emotional and cultural. We need to expand what that city does. Thank you, thank you. That's it.
Anybody else have a comment? Great. If you're like us, 514 Ashland Avenue, I do want to
expound a little bit about what the ladies earlier were talking about. And they said 40% financial and then eviction foreclosure, 10%. Well, that's
still financial. So basically 50% of their issues of financial, we know insurance is going up our groceries. Yeah,
gas is down a little bit. But you know, you can't eat gas. So what's going on that we in a
sense can't try to fix. And leads me to what my reading will be today. It's Psalm 55, various verses, because I see
calamities around us. And one thing about my pastor Kurt at the Lutheran Church is he tries to tie what's going on now to what's happened in the past,
that through the centuries we've all had issues of calamities. Civilizations have rose and fallen. Yes, we're proud Americans, but if you
look at history, one day we will be gone too. And I'm not predicting it. But if you listen to the prophets, they give us the warnings of what to
do. Listen to my prayer, O God. Do not ignore my plea. Hear me and answer me my trouble. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught at the voice of the
enemy at the stairs of the wicked. For they bring down suffering upon me and revile me in their anger. My heart is in anguish within me. The terrors
of death assail me. Fear and trembling have beset me. Horror has overwhelmed me. I said, oh, that I had the wings of a dove. I would fly away and be at rest.
I would flee far away and stay in the desert. Selah. I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm. Confused the wicked. O Lord,
confound their speech. For I see violence and strife in the city. Day and night they prowl about on its walls. Malice and abuse are within it.
Destructive forces are at work in the city. Threats and lies never leave its streets. If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it. If a foe were
raising himself against me, I could hide from him. But it is you. A man like myself, my companion, my close friend,
with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship. As we walked through the throng at the house of God. Let death take my enemies by surprise. Let them
go down alive to the grave, for evil finds lodging among them. We need to find some way to take evil out of our actions.
We're now threatening to go to war in Venezuela. We haven't really solved Gaza and Ukraine.
Time's up. Thank you. Next. Any other speakers? Please come
forward. My name is Steve Schwartz. I live on 1119 Lake Street. As most of you know me
as Bud's Plumbing. Okay, I have a problem with the clerk's department in this city. And that four months ago, I put a check in here. Needless to say, it got lost, as they said by
the post office. So we went in today, paid our cash, and two days later, my check was cashed by the City of Tarpon. With that when the note said not to cash it. So that's fine. I had
a credit. So my wife goes in the next time, decides to pay it using the phone so it will be directly put in. Well, she called them up because it
didn't come out of her account again. So we get in there 13 days later, we get a call that says your water is shut off, so you need to pay. And I'm going
like, we paid. Well, they showed us on our account as being paid the day after we paid it on the telephone. While we were in there, there was two other people in there pointing their telephones, yelling that
they paid also. So it seems to be a problem now. They made me pay a fee for reconnecting my meter and a service fee. It
took 13 days for them to know that my on phone payment did not go through okay, I've run a business. I can tell in 10s
whether my charges go through, and I can scan my checks and have them the next day they're deposited. So I called up the city manager, which I couldn't
get, so they never returned my calls. But I did get a call back from Michelle, who told me that she only checks to see if things haven't went through once a week. And since she was
on vacation, nothing got checked. So we we were charged money. Now, my water was never shut off because computers are so screwed up. They didn't even know. So I went home. I paid
$60 extra because of the incompetence of the city. I can't believe they do not check their payments, but once a week or once every two weeks to see
if somebody's money has went through. I just paid my new account on a Saturday so it would be logged in on Monday. It was logged in on Monday, but it took them until the
following Tuesday to Wednesday to cash my check. I mean, I can put checks through in one day with my business. Why is the city so slow at taking care of payments? And I you know, I
just got told by Michelle, who called me back and said that, well, I was out of town, so nobody did anything while I was gone. Well, that sounds kind of really stupid because, you know,
my wife works for a law office, and they've got people that cover when somebody's off on vacation. Okay. Plus something about doing water bills. So she didn't have time to check the
computer. We need to do something about getting our clerk's department straightened out. And from what I understand, several city employees, numerous ones, have told me that since her boyfriend is no
longer the city manager. And our sit down. Time's up. Yeah. Yeah, whatever. Anybody else,
please get lined up. Because I'm not waiting for you to make your jaunt across the hall, so. Yes, ma'am. This is my first
time doing this. Hello, everyone. My name is Candace Wagner. I'm the new senior case manager at the Shepherd Center of Tarpon Springs. I've met a few of you already. Thank you
for taking the time to speak with me. I just want to. I'm going off the dome, so forgive me if I get a little flustered in my comments. I just wanted
to speak on a little bit about what I'm doing, kind of to piggyback what she was saying. As far as, you know, shelters, everyone's in crisis here, and
I, I'm one person at the Shepherd center, so it's me putting out a thousand fires every day. And as you, you know, probably know, that's
incredibly frustrating when you have people coming here and they do have income, especially those that receive Social Security, they're making approximately 700 to $1000 a
month. And they're trying to figure out why they can't afford housing. And those are the people that are around the 62 to 65 age range. So that's
something that I'm learning. What else was there mentioning about potential shelter options in the future? That is something that is priority for
me. And coming up in 2026, I have to be a part of that process. And it's been incredible meeting all the community leaders. And I'm still one by one, all the
agencies I met with Metropolitan Ministries, Salvation Army, the Cap center. I'm very familiar with the sheriff's office. I used to
work there, and I know Lieutenant Hays, and we did. What is it called? What is this? Forgive me. I'm trying to get
all the things I need to say. So, yes, as someone mentioned earlier, it is a community issue. And. I believe that all
of us have the same thought as far as you know, being mission based and trying to really figure out an actual solution to this issue. We have, you
know, the mentally challenged. We have a lot of pretty angry people walking around the street. And it's unfair to business owners. And I've met a couple of them, and I actually have someone that I'm working
on right now trying to figure out where she needs to go, because some of these people are, you know, unsafe to themselves and others. And it's it's just we have to figure out
a place because this is a huge tourist community. So, you know, it's it's a toss up and we just have to figure out and prioritize how we're going to move, you know, in the coming
years. I'm still learning about HUD, the HOA, and just trying to minimize the time that people are trying to figure out. And that's what I'm basically
trying to do. But I hope that I can meet each and every one of you at some point. And thank you. Thank you very much, and I apologize. I wasn't you weren't
the jaunt or I was talking to. So okay. Next. Here we go. My name is John Saxer. I live in
Holladay. 1919 Patriot Lane. I'm here to ask again about my stone anchor. The project would
include 13 stone anchors. Each anchor would be an anchor from the fleet of Atlantis. I've got volunteers to pay for these anchors. I made a deal with Costa to put these anchors in a
circle up there with the old Sunday Motel was, and I don't like my anchor being in the city dump. I'd like that either
returned to me or to the spot that Costa agreed upon. He was in office when I did this. He resigned about a week and a half later. I'm not sure why he
resigned, but I do know that it was a good project. The stone circle in Tarpon Springs would speak to all the other stone circles worldwide, and people would understand what the stone
circles were for, based on the fact that they were used as anchors of giant ships. It would bring tourism to tarpon. We would be able to put a movie out. We would get a lot of
benefit from further tourism, and people would come to this place like the Muslims go to
Mecca. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Austin, is there anyone
remotely. Hands up. You guys know? Oh, no. I'm sorry. Thank you. No, sir. Okay. Thank you. All right. So that that
concludes public comment. Let's go to the consent agenda. Let me read the items. Number two is attorney fees Johnson Jackson number three event
special events. Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox cathedral epiphany litany procession and celebration three B first
Friday in Tarpon Springs. Three c second Saturday Market, Tarpon Springs, D 2026 Tarpon
Springs Sponge Docks Craft Craft Festival, e third annual Offenders for the First Responders car show. Number four approval of election
contract. Contract for municipal election. Number five approval of Florida Department of Emergency Management. Agreement. Number six approval
of Florida Department of Environmental Protection standard grant agreement. Number seven renew file of the maintenance of public restrooms
at the Sponge Exchange. Number eight Award file for General Electric Services. Number nine Award file Goodyear Tires and
Services. Number ten Award renewal for automotive parts and supplies. Number 11 approval of Florida Department of Transportation and Institute
of Police Technology and Management. Contract and number 12, the approval of the interlocal agreement between Pinellas County and it's
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System. Does any Commissioner wish to pull any of these consent agenda items?
Five and six. Let's go ahead and vote on the approving items. Number two, three, four, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11 and 12.
Can I have a motion? So moved. Second roll call, please. Commissioner Banther. Yes, Commissioner. Yes, Commissioner. Coolio's. Yes, vice mayor
Eisner. Yes. Yes. Okay. Vice mayor on number five. So this one is more. So I had a conversation today with Bob
Robertson about this procedure. The whole thing we were discussing was the vault system, whether the vault, how big the vault should be. And one of the
things I don't want to do, and I want the commission to be aware of this, is that if we try to put too large of a vault
system in the downtime to do it and to get it installed will be devastating to the sponge area businesses. So what I had
recommended to him, which he's also looking into, is to see if we could do a smaller vault system with an inline pump, which I've spoken about in the
past. So I just wanted the board to know that I did speak about this. And we we do have to take step one, which is getting the engineers and all the people that are much more
knowledgeable than I am to see what they could come up with and go from there. So that's pretty much all. I wasn't going to question you, PJ, okay, I
wasn't sure. Okay. Yeah, I know I spoke to him, I knew he wouldn't be here and I knew you would be here. But the whole factor is the the downtime of doing this construction. I
don't want it in the summer when you can't get it done. And I don't want it in the winter when we have our tourists. So we need to make sure that we're doing a big enough project to do the band aid that it needs,
and small enough that it doesn't affect the business. They're they're hurting enough. So that's all my point is. Thank you. Okay, let me get a
motion to approve item number five. So moved. Second. Okay. Roll call I'd like to make some comments. Mayor. Yes, sir. Just I understand where Vice Mayor is going at, but this is a very
delicate situation. That whole road thing. I would really encourage whatever the original plans were, they need to try to stick to them without any one
of us trying to push it on top of them. And I don't know what the length of this construction is or not, but if it's the way it has to be done, it has to be
done. We don't want it done in a way where an inch of water is coming into the road, you know, and the pump fails or for whatever. So I want this. I want really staff to do this
the way they want to, without any one of us individually requesting a certain style of the project to be done when we're looking out for the next decades to come, and not just the initial year for this
construction. I know it's, you know, tough, but we got to think long term for this. So just for clarity, PJ, this is despite what the vice mayor
recommends. We're you're going to give us you're going to do a study on on all the options, right? Yeah. Bob is I'm working with WSP right now to get all of the multiple design options.
Right. This is just for the grant agreement, just to get the design partially funded. And then, you know, it's going to be a collective decision on the extent of how this goes and
all that. So I don't yeah. Let me just answer that. Let's make it quick. I'll be very quick. I'm not going to override anybody. This is just an idea to throw in so that they can
look into it with their ideas. But their ideas are going to be what's being done. It was just me having a discussion with Bob and me making the board aware, that's all. Thank you, Vice
Mayor. Okay, so there was there was a second on it. Roll call please. On number five. Commissioner. Yes, Commissioner. Donato. Yes, Commissioner. Yes.
Yes, vice mayor. Eisner. Yes, yes, that's item six. Vice mayor. This. Mr. Geiger, I give you the floor. You know, we
spoke about. I'll just just quickly because we're in a little bit of a rush. Just let us know what happened with the is why we're lifting it up, what year the generator is
there. And, you know, the electric and all that stuff that we spoke about just quickly. Sure. Thank you. Thomas Geiger, public services director. So this is the grant
agreement for Resilient Florida to get about $2.2 million in grant funding to harden the electrical systems of the wastewater plant. This is a project we talked quite a bit about when we were doing the
CIP earlier this year. The electrical systems are from 1985. They were designed to a different standard back in 1985. They've since raised the 100 year flood elevations in the
area based on new flood studies. And we also had a very close near-miss with storm surge last year, where we had very little freeboard between the storm surge and saltwater intrusion into our electrical systems,
the wastewater plant. So the goal of the project is to elevate and harden all of the critical electrical systems of the wastewater plant and modernize them because they're 40 years old, they're at end of
life. The generator was one thing we talked about in particular, and this is a kind of microcosm of some of the choices that have had to have been made in the past at the city for maintaining our
infrastructure. So the the plants from 1985, the generator is actually from 1974, because at some point in the past there was a need to replace the generator and they were able to find a used one, and that was
what they could afford at the time. So this is very much a needed 40 year life cycle rehab. And it also make our community much more resilient for critical wastewater service. Does that answer your question?
It does, sir, and I just wanted to have that brought up because a lot of what was done in the past was a can kicked down the road and it's being kicked. And when not the board to kick it down the road anymore, we're
trying to deal with it to make the town stronger. Correct? Yes. We're very pleased that the board has been supporting the CIP, and this is one of those projects that will be partially funded with rate revenues, but
also with a little bit of debt, because this is one of those projects that, you know, it's a 40 year project. So you want to spread out that cost over the life cycle of the project to minimize impacts to ratepayers and have generational equity
and all those good things. And we're we're very pleased that we're getting good progress made on these 40 year like generational commitments. Thank you. Okay. Can I get a motion
on approval of consent agenda item number six. So moved second okay. There's no comments. Roll call please. Mr.
Banther. Yes. Donato. Yes. Mr. Yes, yes. Yes, mayor. Yes. Okay. Let's move over to ordinances and resolutions. Business items
number 14, would you please read the article resolution 20 2562, resolution of the Board of Commissioners of the City of Tarpon Springs, Florida, approving Application number
2569, requesting conditional use approval to allow a restaurant with up to 124 seats at 325 East Lemon Street in the T4B residential industrial
Slash office transact district providing for findings, providing for conditions and providing for an effective date. Mayor. If I also read the quasi judicial yes please. I need to
close something real quick. My firm sold the building to this applicant, but we don't represent them in any way. So the city attorney asked me to mention that. Is that constitute a recusal.
Commissioner Banther and I discuss this, and he does not have to recuse himself. This is a quasi judicial proceeding where the Board of Commissioners acts in a quasi
judicial rather than a legislative capacity at a quasi judicial hearing. It is not the board's function to make law, but rather to apply law that has already been established in a quasi judicial hearing. The
board is required by law to make findings of fact based upon the evidence presented at the hearing, and apply those findings of fact to previously established criteria contained in the Code of Ordinances in
order to make a legal decision regarding the application before it. The board may only consider evidence at this hearing that the law considers competent, substantial, and relevant to the issues. If the
competent, substantial, relevant evidence at the hearing demonstrates that the applicant has met the criteria established in the Code of Ordinances, then the board is required by law to find in
favor of the applicant. By the same token, if the competent, substantial and relevant evidence at the hearing demonstrates that the applicant has failed to meet the criteria established in the Code of Ordinances, then the board is
required by law to find against the applicant mayor, just to make sure there's obviously Commissioner had already made his comment. If there's any
other ex parte communications or conflicts. Thank you mayor. Thank you. Pat, would you like to make your presentation,
please? Yes, sir. We swearing in speakers. If there. What do you have to do? A swearing in, swear in any of the speakers other than Pat? Are you the
only one speaking? Is anyone else? The applicant is here. Raise your right hand. Do you. Do you swear or affirm your testimony before the Board of
Commissioners shall be the truth so help you? I do, I do. Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. Good evening. Commissioners. Pat McNeese,
planning supervisor. Your first resolution this evening is for what's been called the Rusty Key Tavern. This is located
this is resolution 20 2562, located at 325 East Lemon Street, the site of the previous Silver King Brewery. That was the last use in that
building, and it closed in 2022. This is the old city jail building. Mr. Ben Spiegel, the
applicant, is here this evening. This is located in the T4B and in the Downtown Gateway character district of your
special area plan. As you know, this is an area of mixed uses about a block south of Tarpon. We have restaurants and taverns
along Tarpon. We have some light industrial and a couple of office uses in the immediate area. The proposal is for
conditional use for a restaurant and tavern. The reason the applicant had to come in for conditional use is
because the previous one, the Silver King Brewery, is expired, so it was closed for more than six months and they have to come back for the conditional
use. In addition to that, we do have a request, a warrant request for increasing seating from the allowable 49 to 124
seats, and that is to allow the applicant to be qualified as a special restaurant. And the special restaurant alcoholic
beverage license. So again, this is the old city jail. The applicant is proposing indoor and outdoor seating about 3236
outdoor seats. And there are no alterations to the building or the property proposed. The applicant recently ran a
certificate of approval request for the east side of the building for windows and doors, and that was approved. The east
side of the building, I should say. The restaurant's about 4600. I'm sorry, about 2500ft■!S
proposed in size and remainder of the building, about 4600ft■!, is being used as a print shop. The applicant can expand on that if needed. That's where
the previous brewery equipment was. So this did previously qualify as a light industrial with Accessory Tavern. So it's
32 outdoor seats. Here's the seating plan. The applicant is asking for a total of 124 seats in that area. That was the
previous taproom of the brewery. This is just a survey of the property. The Smart code encourages primary entrances
from the street front. The frontage of the building, and that would be along Lemon Street. The applicant would like to have the main entrance
on the west side and staff is is fine with that. There is a sidewalk. You can kind of see it here. It's only 2.5ft wide that needs to be widened in
order to accommodate safely accommodate pedestrians. Were asking for that to be widened to four feet and connected to a sidewalk that comes from the
city parking lot to the north. So this four foot sidewalk would connect to Limit Street and then would eventually
connect to the city parking lot, which has a sidewalk down to this parking lot. Staff would work with the applicant on the design of that and the layout.
There may be a possibility of doing some pavement parking areas and building other other portions of that. The proposal
does conform with the Land Development Code. There aren't really any physical changes being made to the site. They will have to do some interior work, obviously, so they they
will need to pull their building permits for that. We expect everything to be able to meet codes. The fire marshal has taken a look at this already. This is consistent
with the Downtown Gateway Character District. It's really a continuation of what was there previously, and it is
appropriate and compatible with the area. The use is therefore consistent with the Special Area Plan and the Comprehensive
Plan. Again, this is a historic structure, but there are no other alterations proposed at this time. It's not on an environmentally sensitive site.
Again, there's been a use on the property. Property values have remained stable in this area, so we don't expect any adverse effects on property
values. The city already serves this property with facilities and we feel like this is adaptation and adaptive reuse of the old city jail.
Continuing. So it does make for orderly and efficient development. So we expect everything to be able to meet codes. Things will be brought
up to fire code, building code. And so we feel like this is a. A good use of the property. Staff is recommending approval
of the warrant. Request for the seating increase to 124 and of the use itself with four conditions one regarding the
seating, second one regarding the walkway connection to the west side entry. One requiring the Lemon Street door to be
operational. Could be locked, but to be operational and remain as a door, and they'll need a local business tax
receipt. Staff hasn't received any responses to this request. The Planning and Zoning Board did review this at their November 17th meeting, with a
full board present. They did modify item two to specify that the sidewalk extension isn't just specific to the west side.
It needs to be extended regardless of which entrance is ultimately the primary entrance, or if they switch that at some point in the future. And then
they also said that the street door must remain operational if it is not the primary entrance. They added a condition they'd like to see the outdoor seating,
make sure it's protected from any adjacent parking from the city lot or from the applicant's lot. There were no members of the public present
at that meeting to speak on this item. And that concludes the presentation. I'll be glad to answer questions. Thank you. Pat. So let's have commissioner
questions only. We will come back after motion and have commissioner comments. Commissioner Banther, do you have any questions? No, sir.
Commissioner Donato. Commissioner coleus. Yes. Pat the right, the east side of that property. They want to do the printing and stuff. If they
go to, they don't have to come back in front of us for conditional use or anything. If they open up that side and they can start operating as a printing facility, they may already be open. The applicant
can answer that. That is a light industrial use allowed by. Right. So all they have to do is pull a business tax. Thank you. Further questions okay.
Vice mayor, I have no questions okay. So let's go to does the applicant wish to make a statement. And mayor, can we ask the applicant if he has any
questions of staff. Yeah. Do you have any first, do you have any questions of staff. And then would you like to make a statement? I do not have any questions for the staff. My name is Benjamin Spiegel, owner
of 325 East Lemon Street and it's good evening. Thank you guys. Thank all you guys for being here. Pretty much I was I respectfully request some clarification to the language regarding the sidewalk
condition. My intended use is to keep the existing Lemon Street entrance a primary entrance which aligns with the building's historic character and supports pedestrian access to the street. With that in
mind, I'm hoping the board would consider adjusting the language so that the four foot sidewalk on the west side would only be required if and if that entrance is used. And then
obviously the current Lemon Street entrance remains the primary entrance. I'm hoping the requirement could be waived. Are there any questions of the
applicant? I have none, Commissioner Banther. No, sir. Commissioner DiDonato. Sir. Commissioner. Yes, sir. What were you asking to be waived?
They were requesting that the four foot walkway be put on the east side of the west side of the building and pull it up. So it's right there, pretty much
the blue mark right there on the west side of the building. That was the prospective entrance for the sidewalk tenant that was going to use
that location. Since then, that tenant is no longer, you know, no longer proceeding with us. I'd like to keep the Lemon Street entrance, the main
entrance. Okay. And why is that, though? Why? Why do you prefer to have it that way? After staff recommended the other entrance I personally liked, I
think the original entrance, Lemon Street entrance is the preferred entrance. The person who initially submitted this application was that prospective tenant. His project
is no longer moving forward as that that that specific project, but the scope of the scope and intensity of what we're doing remains the same. I've met with other prospective tenants, and
we intend to keep the Lemon Street entrance, the main entrance, and not have the side entrance as the main entrance. Okay, and you're still
intending on having a tavern style bar there? Yes. Okay. If you can put 124 people in there, that would be a great thing to see. So thank you. Can I, I
want to follow up on what Commissioner Coleus is asking you. If the parking. And I'd like Pat to give us your take
on why you're you the staff wants that side, but it looks like you have all the parking behind the, the building. So everybody's going to have to walk through the parking lot.
And then our cars coming, turning in from Lemon Street onto that driveway right there. Pat where do you see that driveway right there. Are they
turning into that driveway? Yes. Okay. So you're going to have people walking from back in the parking lot having to walk through the the space where cars may be coming through. So
I can see why you would. Is that one of the reasons you wanted the side entrance? That's why we suggested this layout to go around that parking lot. So. So the applicant is correct. This this
was previously proposed by his prospective tenant that this the information we have tonight was not changed. I didn't realize that the applicant
didn't wanted to modify the entrances till just now. So I would say staff is fine with changing the entrance. I think
the planning director felt pretty strongly and Planning and Zoning board also felt, regardless of the entrance, that there should be something provided and that the two foot
should be widened to something safer. Now the the area outlined in white doesn't have to be a full fledged sidewalk. It could be markings. It could
be a path we could work with with the applicant. And of course, this sidewalk exists, the one from the city lot, but the intent would be to route people around that parking. So
not the walk. So are you are you asking not to be able to have to put the four foot sidewalk? Yeah. So I my, my take on is the reason the four
foot walkway was required was they were going to make that the main entrance to the building. So you needed to be Ada compliant to get into the main entrance. That is no longer going to be the main entrance and the existing
entrance that's been there for since Silver King and beyond would be the main entrance and is Ada compliant and would not need that extra four feet. Two
feet. And again, go back to that picture again. That sidewalk there is adequate. Pat, do you think that sidewalk there that's there now is
adequate? That that's not the that would not be the main entrance. No. But the entrance going to be on on. That's not pictured. Okay. But how how I'm I'm still confused. How are how
are people going to park behind it, walk through all the way to Lemon Street. If there's not an adequate sidewalk to walk over to Lemon Street, they have to walk through the parking lot
parking lot. There is an easement between like my gym building, right, and Silver King. So they own they own the the parking lot together, if you will. And, you know, I guess you could just walk from
public parking. You just I mean, it's just I mean, it's just, you know, it's pavement. You don't have to walk along that sidewalk, which is not very wide. So you could walk from
the public parking, you know, walking south through the parking lot, and you could turn left on the public sidewalk on Lemon Street to access either the doors where the fire trucks
went in or the old double doors that face Lemon Street. That's more that entrance there is like a more like a service entrance. I mean, I don't know what he has planned, but that's
nothing glamorous to walk in that door. Okay. Vice mayor, so, Pat, question for you, do all of our sidewalks need to be
four feet? That's the standard for sidewalk. We do have, you know, obviously your residential, you know, homes people will put in a walkway up
to the front door or something. We don't really regulate it to that extent. But this is a commercial property. But standard city sidewalks are at
least four feet. So then my question over here, why are you adamant on changing this from a 2.5ft to a four foot? Because I
don't a service entrance, I don't I mean a service that technically that side be considered a service entrance. So to require a four foot walkway for that for pedestrians. I think there's
other ways to kind of skin that cat like, like you could walk. There's, there's an existing sidewalk that connects the public parking to the parking
lot. And that's an easy it's an easy way to get to the entrance of the, of the building. I mean, if you're parking your car, you're walking through the you're walking through the, the
parking lot. Anyways, I just don't understand why it's such a minimal thing, why you would be not wanting to just break that up and change it to four
feet. I mean, purely expense wise, I mean expense on on me, myself. The owner of the building. Sure. Yes, I understand you know why? 2.5ft.
But it's it's it could be expensive. It. So city attorney, would we run into any problem with liability if we don't have
the proper sidewalk over there? No. That's in the interior of where the parking area is, as Commissioner Banther said. And that's they'd have the
responsibility liability of that. But we're also then making sure that people have to walk where the cars are instead of on their sidewalk. Well, actually, that's the owner's
responsibility, right? So that's where how do you feel on that? Is that okay with you? I mean, I assume if I were to put a four foot sidewalk on my own
property anyways, it'd be my liability as well. True. But you at least have it done correctly. It's not like we're asking you to do a lot. That's
it's a minimal request. Sure. I mean, again, I'm just proposing that since that entrance is not being used, I figured may not may not need to do that, but
you'd have service people using that. And you might have people walking on that sidewalk when they're parking their car. And you could also have a wheelchair. Ada, you know,
accessibility, which you wouldn't have because I don't know, you know, whether you're going to have curb cuts for them or not. You know, again, that the main entrance would serve for the Ada compatibility.
I mean, it, yeah. I wouldn't want any customers going in through a side entrance. I mean, you have the conditions recommended by PNC and by staff, so I understand. Yes, sir. I'm
just trying to understand why he doesn't want to do that. That's it. Well, I mean, but you can follow whatever I know.
Commissioner. Mr. speaker, I'm going to be quick. I understand that I don't think expense is the greatest excuse to to give, you know, consider the our
downtown and this push for that's across every for walkability safety all that. Think about it. Let's say there's some people in wheelchairs that park in that
public parking spot. The the public parking behind your building. You really would prefer them to wheelchair all the way around the facility just to get through the front
door when there's that beautiful four foot sidewalk that could help get them to and from your property in a very safe manner, avoiding cars and any curves like that. I mean,
you understand why staff is was pushing you that way and why this board is more than likely just going to say you have to do the four foot, which is fine. Again, I would my the reason
I'm here discussing is I again, since I figured as a condition of the entrance being on the west side, I'm saying the west side entrance is no longer going to be an entrance. And is it is it still necessary? Yeah.
I mean, I think it's going to help your business out too. It's going to help better access to. So that's why they're going to I think we're going to stick with the four feet over there. Thank you sir. We could I mean we could be
flexible on the design. He could shave it down or bring it to grade, make it four feet in either, you know, paint, paint the pavement, do something. We
if that's something the board's willing instead of, you know, bringing the curb out and it made like you're saying it might be an issue. Just do some
different at grade type type. It's wide and clear enough to connect that property to the public parking. I think it's it's all going to work out, but you don't want people having to
go all the way around that building because the side, it's not so much the side entrance. You want people on your property as soon as possible and avoid that extra walk. Okay,
let's have public comment in let's start with opposition to the to this project. If there's
none. Austin, is there anybody up there? Opposition to the. No, sir. There are no hands up. Okay, now let's have those in
favor of the project. This is a key example. When you guys don't watch the PNC meetings. The reason we initially or his
previous business partner initially needed to do that for the site is because he didn't want to use the front entrance, because that's where the kitchen was. So in our last meeting, there was a lot of
discussion. Well, if you don't want to use it, side entrance, just use that front front entrance. If you look at the mirrors building and that parking lot, there isn't a four
foot sidewalk next to that mirrors building going around. I just see a lot of confusion. We just wasted a lot of his time in our time because of, I
mean, this poor guy. We actually told him at the last meeting if we actually wanted him to use the front door instead of the side door, the
only reason they were using that was because the guy before didn't want to use the front entrance, which was by the kitchen. So a lot of confusion. Let me ask you, are you here
representing the planning and zoning? I'm representing myself. Okay. So actually just a
comment because I was on the planning and zoning and I actually made the motion and that was passed as to planning and zoning members coming to board of commissioner meetings,
if they are going to come to board of commission meetings and speak and say that they're on the Planning and Zoning Board and want to get up and speak, that had to be approved by the Planning and Zoning
Board, allowing that member to go forward on behalf of the planning and zoning. Correct. That's in their rules. To make that clear. Now, I just want to
make that clear. Yes. Okay. So. Okay, so that's we have the public comments. Let's come back to the board for a motion motion to approve with staff
recommendations. The one through four second okay. Let's go to any commissioner comments. Commissioner Banther. No, sir.
Commissioner Donato. No question. Commissioner coleus I think it was good that that once that four foot sidewalk was brought up, it played into a lot of the walkability for the community and whatnot, and
being able to get to and from a lot of different businesses from the public parking spot. So I think this is a step in the right direction. And I mean, for applicants, they're going to help contribute to our downtown area just as much as
anybody else, and trying to improve the area and the walkability for everyone, for the businesses. Thank you. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you. Mayor. So one of the biggest problems that people
post all the time on social media is that we have older existing buildings that are not Ada approved, and there's steps here, there's issues there,
doorways aren't wide enough, and it seems silly for us to open up any new project or any new facility and not make it Ada approved for wheelchair
accessibility. So that's why I'm in agreement. And you know, the projects are yours. But public safety is our is our
purview. So with that roll call, let's have a roll call. Commissioner. Yes, Commissioner. Donato. Yes, Commissioner. Yes. Yes, vice mayor. Eisner. Yes.
Mayor. Collins. Yes. Okay, let's go to item number 15. Would you please read the resolution entitled resolution 20 2565, a resolution of the
Board of Commissioners of the City of Tarpon Springs, Florida, approving application number 23 154, requesting site plan approval for construction of a medical and general office
building of approximately 13,057ft■!S in gross floor area, including parking and other site improvements on 1.83 acres more or less of property
located at 1098 South Pinellas Avenue on the northwest corner of Meares Boulevard and South Pinellas Avenue in the T five, a South Pinellas Avenue
transect district providing for findings, providing for conditions, and providing for an effective date. Mayor, can we just make sure that there is no need to disclose ex parte
communications or conflict of interest by the board? Does anyone have any? No. Okay. Thank you. Mayor, do you want to swear in. I believe
everybody stood up for the prior swearing in. I know this applicant did. Okay, okay, so let's have the presentation of
staff. Okay. Thank you. Mayor. Again, this is the Shoppes at Meares, located at 1098 South Pinellas Avenue on 1.83 acres
of property, about two thirds of which is in wetlands and submerged land. This is in the city's activity center. Future
land use designation. In the T five, a South Pinellas and transect, and in the South Gateway Character District, the applicant proposes a medical
and general office building of a little over 13,000ft■!S. This. This site had two previous approvals of basically the same
building and that's outlined in your staff report. The project was not constructed after either of those approvals. So
this is at the northwest corner of Mears and Alt 19. This is an oblique aerial of the site and
noting kind of landmarks around it. Again it's in the South Gateway character district T5 South Pinellas Ave transects.
That shows you the layout of the transect districts there. The Green Line, everything east of that probably should label
that as uplands. Everything west of that is wetlands and Yellow Line outlines the site. So this is the survey of the
site. The yellow area represents the acreage of wetlands to be filled. It's about 82% of the wetlands that are present. In order to make
the site developable. And then they will install a walled pond on the back of that. This is the site plan. Again, the
walled pond here, the office building up on the corner with parking and the honeycomb.
Coverage represents pervious pavement. The applicant has. It's the. The site has its entrance and exit on Apricot
Court. Something a little different from the last time the Board of Commissioners saw this. Is that an entrance proposed to Mears Boulevard was
included. That last time. Pinellas County denied the request for that entrance this time. This is just the
landscape plan. The show slide in a few minutes here about heat severity. Just looking at this, staff asked the applicant to reduce the amount of parking
to reduce the potential for added heat severity in this area of tarpon, and they did reduce it by five spaces and add some landscaping. The smart
code requires what's called a frontage build out, which basically means the feeling of a wall along the street. It's 80% in this district. The
applicant has achieved it with the design on North Pinellas, but they did not want to build a wall to the 80% along Mears. So they're asking for to
substitute a hedgerow for that wall. Staff is in support of that along the Mears furniture. That's not the primary east frontage. That's the secondary
frontage. This is the architectural rendering. Most of the people will be entering the building from the back, but there will be a front door,
front steps as required by smart code. So it will be at least pedestrian friendly from
that side. There is a the the lot of windows, so the smart code requires a certain percentage. I think 70% of
glazing. So regardless of what this building over the years becomes, it could be appropriate for future retail or other uses in that are
allowed in in that area. I mentioned about the wetland impacts. So the applicant has an active water management
permit expires in 2029. And he has applied for Army corps and county permits. One error in your staff report. The
applicant pointed out to me today that the previous Army Corps permit actually expired in 2023, not 2019. So I just want to point out that error.
But this was all mitigated. So those permits were originally issued around 2014. Time frame. The mitigation was built at our
North Anclote River Nature Park back in 2014. Finished in 2015. So it's ten years old. Your
packet includes the latest monitoring report for that. Mitigation was done in August, showing that it is successful actually exceeding success,
which you might expect with that age of of mitigation was a wetland, a marine and brackish water restoration. These are
just a few pictures of what it looks like now. With respect to your review criteria. The project is being processed under the old the previous
comprehensive plan, because the applicant did get their application in before the new plan was adopted and became effective. So the wetland
impacts are allowable under that plan, as long as an applicant either mitigates on site first choice mitigates in
the city area second choice, or pay into a mitigation bank on site was not practical here. Obviously, they mitigated within the city and that's
that's what was done. Again, we just wanted to point out the heat island severity just because it is part of your new comp plan. And we did want the
applicant to at least look at that. So I mentioned the parking, the warrant for the hedgerow. The applicant has
calculated that the peak hour trips for this use would be 51. They didn't do any past by capture analysis, which they could have, and it would
probably be less than that. 51 is the number that trips a transportation management plan, and I wanted to maybe go back
and show you. There is a transit stop to the north, less than 300ft to the north. There are four crosswalks at this
intersection. And the applicant does propose bike racks. We feel staff felt like those were items they would have proposed anyway for in a transportation
management plan. So we feel like that requirement is satisfied. This is just the heat severity map showing basically all 19 has a mild
moderate heat severity. The city can serve this site with facilities. The project will be required to meet city building
codes. The applicant is going to do multi-tenant flood proofing so that that's something that your floodplain
ordinance does allow. It has been done in the city. It's just not usual, but it's allowable by FEMA and by
ordinance. So it's we we recommended a condition, you know, noting that they'll need to get all those agreements and paperwork into us. The TRC last
reviewed this in May of 2025. All the comments have been addressed or are recommended as conditions, so staff is recommending approval of the
project with the warrant to use the hedgerow in lieu of the. As the street screen. Staff had originally recommended that the
site construction and building permits be pulled both within the six months that your code requires the dry flood proofing
I mentioned. Obviously, all other jurisdictional permits are needed, which really was left as the Army Corps and Pinellas County Water and
Navigation Authority. We had a condition addressing landscape, plant material, and the applicant will need to reduce the driveway access point just
a little bit to 24ft. He may want to seek a variance to that. The smart code requires a variance for that. Staff cannot
recommend a warrant on that one. And then there's some utility. Usual utility requirements. The full conditions are in your resolution and in the staff
report. So the Planning and Zoning Board did review this application on November 17th with the full board present. They voted to recommend
approval. Two members dissenting, and they had some revisions, which I've given you in strikethrough, underlined to the conditions. Probably the
their biggest concern was to be able to get give the applicant more flexibility on the time to
obtain their permits. And we can we can go through that if you'd like. I the way this condition is written up, I
wrote a kind of a little timeline of what that might look like the soonest that the things would happen. So if this was approved tonight, they would have six months to pull a
site construction permit, which is what the Planning and Zoning Board specified. He would also process his driveway variance, if he so chooses, within that
six months, and he would be the Planning and Zoning Board wanted him to show diligent pursuit of the other agency
permits and making progress toward that. And then a month after that, he would pull the building permit. He would apply
for the building permit for the for the vertical construction. And that completes the presentation. Do you have any questions? Thank you. Let's
have commissioner questions. I'll go first. Okay. You made mention of the old comp plan and the new comp plan. So are
you saying that this project would not be. It would not be within line with the new comp
plan? Well, the only thing that isn't strictly in line, I would say, would be the wetland provision. So your new comp
plan basically prohibits wetland impacts unless you mitigate on site. I'll just stop there and now and just
keep in mind that the site is two thirds wetland. So practicality of use of the site would would be something you might ask your attorney about
if that's something you want. So I'm not sure how it would have played out under the new comp. And that's what I'm trying to say. But strictly speaking it prohibits wetland
fill. Okay. Under the comp plan with the 51 trips a day. Is can you go back to the site, plan
on the. So are there multiple entrances and exits out of this project? No. The isn't isn't
that one of the requirements of the the 51 trips that there be for safety purposes? If if one entrance is blocked that
there's another entrance exit out of that project? I'd have to look. I don't remember that part of the comp plan that if
you have more than 51 trips, you have to have, there's a provision for more than 50 units of residential having two entrances. I'm not sure we have
a provision for commercial for 51 trips needing to. Get 51 trip. If in excess of 51 trips. There needs to be what what we
call traffic mitigation, right? Which for safety purposes you have to have another exit. Right? Isn't that that was the
whole concept that we went through several years ago on, on multiple entrances and exits. So you're saying there's only
one entrance in and out of that project? Yes. There. Why couldn't you have a built in to. Is that because it's on the mirror side? Is it too close to
the to the stoplight to be able to get out there? Would still you could still have it one way turn out. Yeah. Down mirrors in the previous project that that
this board approved that was not built had a right in right out at that at with an approved driveway. Pinellas County did
not in their letter provide a rationale, but they denied it. I think it would be pretty difficult to get an entrance on
North Pinellas when you have an alternative from a road, it's hard to get the state and the county. To give you another one.
If if you have an existing access, which is going to be apricot, they can't share. Is there a on the on the I guess
it would be the north side right there where you have the arrow is that's next to that is
the what is that. That's like a exit out of that proposed site. Right. Wasn't there like a gate there. There is a gate that was
associated with the previous project. There can't be there can't be an exit out of there onto that. Is that an easement? That's where it is. That's
that's a that's a that's the only way to get in and out. Yes. That's that's a platted dedicated public road. Apricot court. And that's the only is
this the same project, the same property that that there was proposed Wawa. Yes. Okay. I wasn't around then, but was
that approved? No, no. Never came to hearing that. Withdrew it. All right, Commissioner, do you have any questions? Thank you. And I appreciate your call. Your call today, Pat, to help
me answer. Answer my questions. And you filling in for Renee. I know she's not here. She has to be bad sick. So that's legit. Yes. Hope she feels better soon. So now in our conversation, I
think you mentioned this as well. Has this this project has been fully, fully, fully mitigated. Correct. It has been, yes. The wetlands impacts and
that's in town. But it's not on site. That's correct. Correct. Thank you. Does the has the applicant given any kind of feedback as to if he feels this six month time crunch for the
permits is as reasonable for him? Yes he has, yes. And that's why the Planning and Zoning Board recommended basically giving him more time.
All right. Thank you, Commissioner Donato. My major concern, you've already asked me. I was concerned with the
entrance. But I don't know if. Where we put it anyway. I mean, outpouring on right there at the intersection might be difficult. That was the only
concern I really have with the project. I don't know what other alternatives are there, any others were presented or anything like that for this
site, for for this site there really haven't. I mean, we've had inquiries, properties for sale, I didn't I usually watch PNC, but I did not catch this
particular item when it went through. So I don't know if there's any discussion about a second way to to ingress. In ingress. I'm sorry. Was there
or there wasn't really discussion about adding another driveway entrance. Now that I recall, maybe I should wait to
hear from the applicant then. That's all I have. Yes, thank you mayor. We talk about this
South Gateway character district. What is that district supposed to comprise of? Like?
It's. Take a look real quick. Where does. It's basically the south entrance to the city. It
envisions mixed use. You know, retail, mixed. Could be office and residential. Above it's
it's pretty wide open as to what you can do there. It's more the form, as you know, with your smart code, a lot of times it's more the form that's
emphasized. So the fact that the building is up against the road is really the kind of the the leading theme here. And
then after that, there's a variety of uses allowed. See my problem, my main problem with this is it's proximity to the
main road over there. I mean, when you look at it's the setback and I understand it's part of the smart code, but in a way that's the entryway and you're the way the building is
being designed on the very, very corner. It's constricting, you know, visibility with emergency, you know, move around the sidewalks, you know,
with with big vehicles if needed. And those that setback looks very similar to some of our downtown buildings. But those buildings are decades
upon, decades old. You know, y and if I understand if this applicant was or this application was before the comp plan and the whole mitigation
with. The wetlands, why couldn't this land be flipped in a way where there's, you see the parking in the front a
little bit? Yeah. So your smart code form based code wants a pedestrian and more kind of intimate relationship with the
street, that kind of environment. The applicant did push this back ten feet, which is, I believe, the maximum
setback. On the building. But yeah, that's that's the form that's called for in this district. Yes. But when we look
at our staff presentation and we're looking at the location and context, you can see that those other neighboring corners, Manatee Village, where the, the Winn-Dixie, where the, the bank
is, those setbacks are very far and beyond. Yes. And so the smart that setback may reflect more in the middle the downtown. But at that certain corner, the
way it's set, it's just not it's not welcoming to the city as you come in and it's too close to the main road, you
know, also and I'll ask the I'll, I'll go with the applicant. So I have a couple issues. One being the setback on the corner, being where it's
at the wetlands before the comp plan. After the comp plan, I'll see where this board wants to go with it. But as we talked about, you said it's that
character entryway. It's retail. It's, you know, shops. I'm not too fond of seeing it as a medical office area, you know,
would like to see commerce from there. And I'd like to work with the individual to try to make that happen. So I just wanted to touch up with you and find out about that setback,
which is too close to me, the way I look at it, and then what's actually going to go inside the building, as well as the layout within the building, which I didn't see anything in the backup. So thank you, Pat.
Okay. Vice mayor, thank you. Mayor. So my question one is, as in the planning considerations, would this
project fail the 2045? Comprehensive Plan? Would it be allowed? Again? The one item
that would be in question would be the wetland impacts. That would be a call of the board. So is that a yes or a no? So
strictly speaking, as I mentioned, the the comprehensive plan that the current comprehensive plan basically prohibits these kinds
of wetland impacts. So then it's a no without mitigation on site, which I would assume can't be done here. So I'm just going to go through your
considerations as questions here. The applicant's project will impact point 98.98 acres. The proposed impacts were
permitted by state and federal agencies in 2014. But the bottom line is it's not approved now. Correct. We are still missing some permits.
We're missing two permits, a two of three. Right. Swift mud. Swift mud we do have that's effective to have that okay. Yes. So why is this
applications coming when it's supposed to have everything all the applications prior to for us was it to try to get it in under the comprehensive plan of
2025 and not the plan of 2045? Well, the application was received prior to the plan adoption. That's why it's under
the old plan. But we don't normally hold up applications from hearing for all other agency permits. We do hold up
the building permit issuance for other agency permits. So the I'm sorry, and this is one we were confident because it had been permitted. The permits
were extended. I guess the applicant can explain that if the wetlands were mitigated and we were confident that the applicant would be able to get
the permits, if they can't get them, then they won't be able to build the project. So I'll make my comment afterwards. Dry flood proofing of the building
is required, but because FEMA said it's okay, we should say it's okay. Our ordinance allows
it, allows it. But is it? It's not your preference, correct? It's not the floodplain manager's preference. Yes, that
would be an attorney question. I think whether that could be I know his answer already. It could be legal but might not be
advisable. Is that what you're trying to say? It's it's it can be. You know, you have to depend on an agreement. All the
tenants, you know, agree to implement and put up the flood proofing materials ahead of the storm. I don't know how many tenants would be in this
building. Probably not a whole lot, but. That's why it's not preferable. It's it's more complicated than a permanent dry flood proof building. So
just to follow up on what the mayor said earlier, the applicant did request mirrors to be a entrance exit, whatever. And it was turned down by
Pinellas County, correct? That's correct. Okay. The applicant also proposed parking that exceeds the minimum requirements for the Smartcode.
That was an issue as well, correct? Yes. There's no your current code doesn't have a prohibition on too much parking,
but that's something we may be looking at in the future. But so we have also I'm sorry. Let me turn to the speaker. We had an approval in July 6th, 2010
for a multi-tenant commercial establishment. And then we had another in was approved in 2020
for a medical general office building. Okay, where was the Wawa applications that were on that property? Because we had I
know that they came before the Board of Adjustments numerous times. Yeah. Was any of that in here? They came in around 2017
and withdrew somewhere around 2018. So my question though, but why wouldn't we have had that in here as backup? Oh I'm
sorry because there was no it never made it to to hearings. So there was no hearing on they were true before it went to Planning and Zoning Board. So
there was no action on the application, only the right. They did receive at least one variance for that property. That was the only action
associated with that. Was it one variance for variances? Well, one hearing it was one I can't remember. You probably it was one meeting with four
variances. Okay okay. And then that expired. And then it came back for an extension. Correct. I don't remember. You are probably correct. Yes. Okay. I
just was curious. This these were important things because I'm seeing a lot of applications and a lot of ideas and nothing coming to fruition.
So it has me concerned all the requests from the applicant, which he will have to do his own explanation. And then, you know, it's it's nice to have
all these ideas of grandeur, but very little is coming to fruition. And there's that concerns me, especially when we
have our department head making mention that the site plan has to be at the same time as the permit, because we're talking about dredging the back. We're talking about as as fellow
commissioners spoke about possibly blocking, you know, a view. There's a lot of things that are going on here. One entrance and exit, an
overabundance of of parking. So all of these things I know these are not questions. So I will stop right here. Thank you. And that was her concern I will
I will kind of answer that as she wanted to see something actually happen this time. I think that's what she was going
for. Is that it, vice mayor? Yes. I'm sorry. Okay. So would the applicant have any questions of staff? First of
all, good evening, Mayor and Commissioner JD Sycamore Engineering, 8370 West Hillsborough Avenue, suite 205. Tampa, Florida 33615. And I
have already sworn so. So before you before you begin your presentation. Do you have any questions of staff? I do might be on the report. I
brought it to Pat attention before. So of course, you know, you have no questions of her right now. Right now. Yes. Okay. So now you can go ahead and make your presentation. Very
good. Thank you so much. So the proposed development that you see located in the northwest corner of Pinellas Avenue and Merritt Boulevard, 13,000 square foot of medical and
general offices. As mentioned this site have been approved three times different user and provides with up to three times
Army Corps of approved and county. And of course, the city approved indefinite use and the last approval was the 13,000 square foot medical office,
which approved 2020. What's happened during that time? The best of my ability 2020. It was the Covid time and we could not
get any commitment on any user to the offices at that time. So when we started, which is the period was one year when we started to get some commitment,
the site plan expired and we have to go again with the process. As you see, the subject site is have a wetland. The wetland have been mitigated
fully and constructed and mitigated since 2010 and have been in operation fully. And of course, periodically we submit
a report on the condition to Army Corps and Swift Mud and approved, of course. Mostly the
the site as you see there is required permitting right now which is extending of course we have approval the site plan
from the city and the county drainage permit, which is the best of my ability, is not apply as far as dredging, because if you walk that
wetland or what they call it wetland, you found that it's really dry. And and of course, the quality of the wetland is as not me as Army Corps and our
environmental scientists and swift mud show is low quality wetland, and we mitigate for it, of course, completely. So we
this is in hand city site permit. We need to get it extension from Army Corps and the submitted to the county for
pulling the permit. So the game plan or what we proposing we going to have a site permit. The site permit will be two phases. Phase one which are clearing the site filling and
compacting and do some soil to get the so we can design the building based on that, design the building and submit for building permit and go later
after approval for site permit, phase two site permit and of course construction. We really went through the condition and
we ask if possibility extension to the timing from six months to one years. As you know, we grateful to the staff and the commissioner, planning and
Zoning commissioner, and of course, you working with us through the timing to try to be sure, address it. But that's what we're looking for. I would
like to try to respond to some question as requested. As far as the setback, we really follow the smart code. We
understood and we what required we that what we apply fully, we are here ready. We understood how it's work if we can push it to the back. But unfortunately
this is this is what we apply for based on the code. The I mean, as far as the I mean, as
far as the permitting or other building, I think the it the staff put it in point in clearly and we are going to have some correction into it or
discussion, but that's mostly what we're looking for and that you got ready to answer any question. So let's go to questions of the applicant. Let
me start off and this may shift over to Pat. These can can go back to the overall site not
this site plan right now. Right. Right. No go back the way you were right there okay. So these channels that are all the all
those channels there. Those are all dredged channel. Obviously they're not you know, nature didn't make those things perfectly perpendicular and horizontal. Right. So those
were all dredged. Correct? Correct. Okay. So that and was that a naturally all wetlands.
I have looked at old historical aerials on this, some of this entire area here was wetland and some was upland. I'm not
sure what, but this this is all dredged, obviously, and this material is dredge spoil. If you look at old aerials, you will see that they dredged up
into this site. They just failed to seawall it, maybe because it was under separate ownership, who knows back then. So it could have been dredged shorter short of the site. So
so it probably just began in the planning of this, this area they just dredged farther along. Yeah. Okay. I want I want to ask I was going to ask former
mayor DiDonato if he remembers that prior to all those channels being there. Do you remember that? Early on? Yes, I believe what was there that
would have been in the late 70s? I don't know, there's some question for me, and that's one reason why I'm concerned with just one exit. Entrance is at
the end. It kind of, you know, you see a perfect straight channel at the east end. It's kind of messed up. And I, if you know what I'm saying, I, I
don't know that that was there or maybe that was the original site that I tried to find that out too. I doesn't seem to be so. So all those channels were man made channels. They were
man made. Yeah. And so basically all that area was probably wetlands of some sort. Right. Okay. That that can I, can I say something absolutely.
So respectfully as mentioned exactly is man made channel. Then we went to the 30s. When you go through process Army Corps permit, they go very deep
into the history of the, the, the, the wetland. Now, except with that west side, east side of the channel, there is no
wall. So therefore the water get inside the property and back and forth and back and forth with the time it created, you know, the wetland, what
they called it, wetland area. If you look kindly found out the wall is across the whole channel, except that east side. And that's what make it get
inside. And the elevation of your project is that is that below the floodplain? Okay. The
floodplain is ten. My site below the floodplain. So what's happening below the floodplain? Yes, below the flood elevation. So now are you on the are you
going to be and and Pat, you may be able to answer this. We like that the discount grocery store flooded. Correct. During
Helene. Is this on the same level as that? I have not checked that. Yes it is. They're both. They would both be below required flood. But
whether that's seven I would not. Why wouldn't you have built it up. Why would you. Why would you jeopardize your project when we don't mind to
build it up and we build it up to elevation seven? I think it came back as a recommendation by the city to have it have a
flood protection to the foundation and of course, lower than the flood elevation. Now, as far as flooding, this is tidal influence area. So the
there is no flooding. If you get to reality, the flooding can be. But it came back. This is because on the in the Gulf it go all the way to the Gulf.
So I mean they the point in that especially with the smart code to have it close to the Mediterranean area which is not high, too much high acceptable
height and can be like representing the man scale, not high size. And they're based on that. We took that advice and
put it at elevation seven. It's probably three, 3.5ft above the roadway elevation, which is
higher than everybody and still acceptable as pedestrian walking in that area. Commissioner Banther, do you
have any questions? Did you say your building at seven feet? Is that what the. Respectfully, the finished floor elevation is seven seven. Now on this here
at seven feet above, above sea level. Or is that a different definition? That's exactly. You can't say something like this. I mean, I need to be careful. Yes. Probably completely. And this flood proofing that you're
proposing is this like those, you know, I almost call them the old reverse hurricane shutters. Is that like an actual dam that's erected, or is this more, you know, like, I
assume it's not obviously sandbags. Right. So do you. I mean, I wouldn't think a builder would build a building, you know, knowing full well it
can flood easily. So I'm trying to figure out, you know, what you have in mind for the for the flood proofing. What's there's going to be protection to the foundation fully. And we're going to have a plan
submitted to the building department that, you know, the evacuation, the walk through, whenever they called it, evacuation zone or flood zone
or emergency. There's a plan. We need to put it to the city that nobody there and evacuated protected all all the building. That part of what what you know,
we're looking to do. But it's not going to be like Tampa General Hospital or other where you have a protection not not like that. Because Tampa General is much, much lower
than this, much lower than it, very close to the water. And if you if the hurricane or similar Milton and I think will be you're going to see in that in
those walls the water go all the way to the top with all the protection they're going to have. So but no, we are different. Different case on this one. All right. Thank you.
Sure. Commissioner Donato, again I'm concerned about the one entrance and exit. I'd like to see that different. But quite honestly, looking at that I'm not sure where it would go.
I understand why the county didn't want it to go on mirrors, and I can see why it probably would be difficult to put another one on on Pinellas. I
also have a problem as I lived in that large, still live in that area and there was water all the way to the corner pretty much at that intersection. So I know it's
tidal and and I know that it was a lean that drove it in, but that was 200 miles off our coast, had had a lean been closer. I, I'm having a hard
time understanding the back of your building as well. I at the back of the property. What's going to prevent that water
from going forward? Well this is in layman simple layman's terms. I'm not an architect. No problem Commissioner. So this
is it's every structure designed based on wind based. And of course the water have a power, you know, so it's
designed based on high intention. We're going to go with deep foundation to place it the same way. If you see the same wall surrounding the channel survive. So you're saying basically there'll be
some kind of retention wall there. Correct. And I as an engineer, I could not guarantee you know how it is, but will be based on the highest standard
design to stand up with the maximum condition, stormwater storm condition, any storm.
Okay, no more questions. Commissioner Coleus. Yes. I want to go back to the smart code because all it takes is
one application to make you see something that there could be issues within the smart code. And I want to follow up with Pat for a question. The new
roads building the bank on the the flagship bank, were those subject to the smart code that he subjected to. The flagship
bank? No, that was not in the smart code because it's across the street. What about the new roads building? The Rudy's
building, I would say predates smart code. So no. Okay. Well, I'm one of the first people I'll override the smart code. I don't like the way it's written
right now. And I tell you the truth, sir, the setback is a big issue for me. It's it's the entryway to our community, pretty much to all the retail and shop and downtown of our
community. Something's going to go here that's going to go over wetlands. I know that we all know that depending on what boards up here and who's
looking at our comp plan, the votes go the way they go. I can't. And also. Why are you
going with the medical and general office when that whole area is really a retail and shop driven area? Well, the the
started this a while back. It's really the demand for for those medical office. And I'm going to be a brought to you in the
record there's interested well known medical organization which is close to the city and they have an interest in that
medical offices. And we have two meeting not guarantee there's two meeting in this regard. And they have great interest. But we are not sure
what will make progress with that. Okay. Well I'm thankful for those people having interest, but if it's any of the ones I'm thinking about, they have a lot of property of themselves that they could sit
there and help on their own facilities. I don't know what you're referring to, but I'm just a I have a general idea. Respectfully, Commissioner, I'm
with you on the setback. I add my vote. I mean, if I have a voice, of course I don't mind to work with anything. I mean, my understanding there's a
variance need to be submitted if for for taking more than ten foot setback. And what might be. I don't want to exceed, but
might be 12 foot. 15 foot can be, but you could not go exceeding that range to have the building in the back and the parking in the front, which
is it's great desire, you know, for me or us or client or to do something like this, you would you would rather have it that way. As I mentioned, it
definitely, definitely preferred. Definitely preferred. I'm I'll be truthful with you. This is preferred. I can't do all. Let us say if we get the
structure three foot 36 inch wall, give whatever. Welcome to Tarpon Springs or other as presenting structure for instance. And the structure will be in the back and the
front will be the parking lot. Okay. I'm just going to tell you right now, sir, I'm not going to I'm not going to support this application as it's proposed due to the setback. It's smart code or not.
It's the only property based off the smart code that doesn't even reflect what the what the nearby properties are and setbacks. So I can't support
that. And also, I understand the demand for offices and medical, but that is a character district. ■It's well&a shop area. It's for people to
come in and out of town. I would encourage you to support something like that. I wouldn't mind seeing the property flipped that way. The parking is in the front, you have your wall in the back, and I'd be open to listening to some
livable quarter quarter quarters up top too. So so Commissioner, respectfully, we trying to do if you look to the elevation we work with the
staff on look like retail. I mean if we get if we look closely there's plenty of retail available across the street in the, you know, just
to the east of Pinellas Avenue. In fact, if you look into the Winn-Dixie shopping center, there's phase two. When I did it in 2009, there's phase two
building, which is not built even yet. So it's not even the demand to retail to that retail yet. So therefore what we did, we tried to create something
look like retail. However, it can be an offices use on this one. Sure. The current state of it right now is not how we
expect it for this community to be. Whether any of us are on here or not. I like your I like your ideas, but I'm not going to support medical office in that area. It's it's a commerce
shop area. It's the entry to the area and the setbacks. Just way, way too close for the main road for safety too. So okay. Thank you sir. Okay. No further
comments. That's me. No vice mayor. Thank you mayor. So question was asked of you and I just want to get that
clarification. You said when they asked you about the building protection from flooding, you said it was you were going to evacuate it. Is
that what the protection was? The is that what requested from us? And I'm a civil engineer. When they requested from us the city, the building department,
they said you need to write a plan. The contractor and the architect write a plan on the process when we'll have a storm event. Could you hold that city
attorney? If we have a voting person leave, don't we have to wait until. No. You could continue on. The competent, substantial evidence has been presented by staff that's
already existing. Okay. I'm good, thank you. I mean, does anybody want to take a break? Do you need. We can take one if you want to take. I mean, it would be advisable. I'd like
him to hear everything. I'd rather have everyone here. So let's let's take a I apologize. No, no. No problem I appreciate it. So let's take a break. We'll get back at 9:00 and we'll come back. Is that okay,
sir? Yes, definitely. Don't worry. I won't forget my questions. Good. I don't forget
anything. You. I'm not really. Okay.
Yeah, I'm. Let's proceed with the meeting with the applicant. Come back up. And it was Vice Mayor Eisner's time to
ask questions. So first of all, I was asked to speak louder. So I'm going to speak a little bit louder. I'm not yelling, but.
You're building protection. As I asked, you asked, how is the building going to be physically protected from the flood waters? And you said evacuation. That's
what you let me just finish. That's what you do with the people. That doesn't help the building. So could you explain will be foundation protection,
which is what which will be like filter fabric liner different layer to protect the,
the the foundation. And also above the. Above the ground for a foot or two. So when you say
a foot or two, what would the flood height of the protection be? Up to ten elevation ten. The protection will be. So
seven. Elevation the finish floor where you get into the building and will be additional three foot protection added beside the foundation which is
below the ground. So three foot all the way to elevation ten. And this is there is a process and requirement code and those
will be followed completely. So there is a property that is right next to you on the other side of the street. That's an empty lot. And I need you to listen to this part for a
minute, if you don't mind. It was pinch. A penny was moving from. Do you remember the situation? Thank you. So they were moving from the. The
complex. They were going to move there and they decided not to. So Pat, why did they decide not to? Well, that I don't know
the answer to that question. They're still over in Amenity Plaza as far as I know. Yes. Okay. I'll give you the answer. I thought you knew. I'm not trying to play Stump the Stars.
The the reason why was they were going to need to make a ramp all the way up to be at the proper flood height, and I'm curious if they would turn
down. And they're in the same smart code smart set as you are. Why should we as a board approve what you have? Okay, so
the elevation on the parking lot is adjacent to the building elevation. So let us say the finish floor is seven. So it's
six and a half the parking lot. So however the road is four and a half. So you already get to higher elevation in the whole parking lot. So when you get
from parking lot to the building will be small slope, not large slope in the case because it was a small building
on small lot and they are close, they have to go with the longer. Ramp with the best of my ability. They also because they
found the space, it's cheaper for them to get the space across the street. They went and and do it instead of building new building. So they were looking to move where they
are presently to your side. It's not that that's that was originally where they were. They didn't want to because they didn't want to have to build it to the ten foot height.
So if you look, we proposing a step between the existing sidewalk on Pinellas Avenue and the building. The step however,
in the other side is a ramp where the people access you can see. So there is no I could not say there's ramp, but there is
not a long ramp. It's happened in other cases. Are you at the same height as the parking lot at Ace and Discount Grocery is
the best of my ability. They are lower. Do you know how much by. I am not sure. Okay, but they are lower than our elevation. The same across the street they are lower. Are you
aware that they flood at every single high tide? I mean, that's what I'm trying to say. We are higher than them. Okay, so when you say that you had
some mitigation done, what were you referring to? When you say mitigation, the wetland mitigation, as shown by Pat, we
planted a new wetland. We build it from scratch. We what they called it is a zone with different type of plant. And
each one have a value based on the human created and what the proposed which more than the existing human or the when we
impact. And this is, you know different type of plant maintain it periodically and all time. So you do realize that that property floods almost every single high tide.
And that is why all the dirt has flown has has just drifted back into the water. That's why you need to dredge it though. Correct? Was my ability. What
do you think our property is? Is your property? Yes. You're talking about. Okay, so it's flooded. You said yes. Okay. The elevation is three and a
half. Four. So we're going to raise it because the water especially there is no wall. And the east side of the, of the channel. So the water get
in and out. So therefore the first phase of the site plan, the site plan approval face to face would be clearing the site.
In filling, compacting and doing some soil. Of course testing where the building will be on that. So we're going to raise it the answer. So I have
a few more questions for you. Had this property since 2010 or even before 2010. Okay. That's my that's just math. It's 15
years. Why had you not put a wall up and stopped the flow of dirt and earth and everything from going into the canal? I
mean, this is required permit, site permit. But you had 15 years to do this. Well, this is part of the site permit from
the whole process here. And I tell you and this is observation I see before 15 years ago, yes. The water was
get in. Now if you look closely, they will not get in as much as used to be. It is walkable area. Most area at most the time,
including the rainy season and the proof of that. There is sometimes homeless, which we one of the thing we deal with live there continuously and we
try to work it, of course, with the, you know. The police department on that regard. But that's what proved to it's dry
area where people, you know, can stay or sit or, you know, live there. Do you remember what the variance that you came
before the Board of Adjustments for Wawa was? I think, the best of my ability. If I recall the setback with the building, they try to put it all the way away
from the because the smart code, it used to be to call the special area before it was applied at that time in 2018 when war came and they applied for that variance where they
put it the same, like a pump in the front building in the back, the same as the typical that the best of my ability. That's a variance. Let me just it was a little difficult for me to
and I want to make sure people understand. So you were awarded a variance to put the building in the back, which is what Commissioner Koolhaas has been asking. He didn't want that in
the front. But you were awarded that then, correct? Well, okay. So first of all, I'm not the one who pursue it. I'm just asking if that's the variance you got. You were awarded to
build the Wawa on the at the back by the water. Okay. He they get the variance but they didn't proceed to the site plan.
I know that part. Right. So there were four variances I know I said on the board I approved it. So I know what I did correct. But so there were four different things. The parking was going to be in the
front. The building was going to be in the back. Correct. So why would you if there's an issue with where the building is now, why would you not go for variance to put it put a
building in the back of them? Okay. Respectfully, Commissioner, I mean, I'm following the code and that's what I'm I'm following the code.
If there is a variance, I don't mind to apply. If there is, we don't do variance encourage. You would have to go before the Board of Adjustment. That's for Wawa. Respectfully understood.
Yes. I mean if this is encourage I mean I'm fine and follow the code. But if there's something you know can be desirable, I don't mind to
pursue it. Did you get somebody who removes Brazilian peppers? Not recently. Okay. Because you do realize that was the reason
that you gave us for not being able to put the building for Wawa in there, because you couldn't find anyone who would remove your Brazilian peppers?
I am not sure about this. I am, respectfully, I'm guarantee you are right, but I'm not sure about this. Here. The Brazilian remove part of it after that
time, between that period 2018 and two years after or so, now it's a grown probably in this regard, but that's what we're
trying to do. Two phases. Phase one is getting the site plan, clearing it, compacting and fill and make it perfectly go get soil and get the design to
the building and later go back, design the building permit and go back to phase two later when we build building on site. Okay, why I'm asking this question because you had a situation
where you have a six months to get this done, okay? And you were asking the planning and Zoning board to go. You wanted
more time, which they were like, yeah, we we understand the situation. It was going to be a year. Possibly. We're the ones that made it six months, not
the planning and zoning Board. We made it six months. Correct. And if you came before the Board of Adjustments and claimed, which you did, that you cannot get anything done on
that property because there were Brazilian peppers and you couldn't find anyone to remove it. Is the question why I asked you, have you had do you have someone now who could remove
that in less than six months? It you brought up a fabulous point and I don't have points, but you got to give me a fabulous answer. I respectfully,
Commissioner, I'm. I'm therefore I'm asking for more time. So this is what's happened. We submit for extension to the permit for
Army Corps in May. Until now, we didn't hear even with repeated repeated requests and say the update we get response.
We say, as you know, the government is close the federal government. So we are pile up with this stuff. When we get back, we response to you when
we we have a prefab with the county and the county cooperative working with us and issue. However, they said there's plenty of application. This is in June. There is still
some application from Milton on somebody. His dock is destroyed and need to rebuild it also. So therefore we asking respectfully to give a time and
I'm suggesting a change to the resolution. Just tiny change so can help in that regard. So respectfully you've had this property since 2010. You
haven't built a, a dividing wall to hold back the water and the dirt to go back in. Since 2010, you haven't done anything to remove the Brazilian peppers.
It's been a property just sitting, not maintained. And you're on a deadline now to get this thing done, which you're asking for a year. When you
came before the Board of Adjustments and you couldn't get it done within two years, and then you were looking for an extension which you didn't get. So this is what my question is how do you plan on
doing it now, if you've had 15 years to straighten this out, it's this is I mean, we it's really we spend if we look for
each application, we spend two years or three years looking into that. Hey, it's going to be that that I say wow, wow and going to be coming up. So we
wait to happen and not happen the same way. We apply for the building and the same way we thought we going to. This is within reach. We're going to go ahead and do all of this
clearing and wall and wherever. And supposedly there's some interest, the interest gone. When the Covid came and we lost the permit. I mean, I'm not trying to find excuses on this
more than this is unfortunately, that's the case here. The issue is we are trying and we're trying to, you know, move forward and make progress on
this. Does anybody know what when when this Wawa was presented because it wasn't during Covid, it was during my time and I'm the one that killed it because it just
wasn't good. There was no support for it at the time, I understand that, but it wasn't during Covid, correct? No, it was before Covid. I got out 2019 because I'm just listening, saying that it's because of
Covid. That was the thing. I think we know how it's going to go tonight. So I mean, you know, okay, okay, okay. So let's go
to public comments again. Let's do public comments against the project first. And then we'll have those in favor of the
project. Anybody wishing to speak against the project. Good evening Lori Weaver 451 East
Tarpon Avenue. I'm not against the project per se. I'm against the way that the smart code is making the project situate on this site. This is an instance
where the smart code and I agree with Commissioner Coleus is not working to the benefit of the area. There's a couple issues here with regard to the
parking. So the parking has to be accessed through Apricot Court. You have. And if this is a proposed medical building, you have people maybe coming
from out of town that have no idea where the parking is. If the parking was situated in the front of the building, it would be very obvious where they were to park. They wouldn't be
inclined to park across the street, try to cross four lanes of traffic to get to this building from a parking lot across the street, and then
it's ridiculous to make this building be street level with that sidewalk. If the parking was in front, the building could be elevated behind and
you wouldn't have an issue with the flooding. And in my opinion, that's the proper way to build this site out it. Thank you, thank you. Anyone else like to
speak in opposition to the project? Just a few things. Susan Swenson, 3 to 7 Manatee. I believe there really needs to
be a traffic study. If you look at it, I know that we have some things that obviate the need for it. But when you turn on apricot right there, you are already in the turn lane for
the right hand turn to go onto Mears. So you're going to be turning right onto the right hand turn lane and then have to get over into the next lane. The next one is we need an
updated geotechnical report for the information. The one we have now is 13 years old. We have a drainage report based. We don't have one based on
recent construction plans or outdated plans. The environmental impact I read through all of it. They say there's ospreys, but I know that we have wildlife. We have
manatees, dolphins, catfish, blue crabs, ladyfish and more all through those canals. Also the canal water level projections. I'd like to see them during different weather
conditions and with and without that wall, that wall is going to keep that water that comes in from those canals, from going into much wider area. The
report itself says from the Southwest Water Management District Bureau chief, that the proposed pond provides treatment for the runoff from the site, and it also states
attenuation is not required because the project site discharges into an infinite basin, the Anclote River. This is not it is correct. It does
go into the Anclote River, but before it gets to Anclote River, it gets to the homes on the moorings which all flooded MLK. When there's a high tide, there
is already water over those seawalls. So I would like to see the effect of that large seawall that they're projecting to the already existing homes that are in that area. Thank
you. Anyone else? Anyone else in opposition? Good evening. Carol McKay, 735 Chesapeake
Drive, Tarpon Springs. Three. Four. Six. Eight. Nine. So. For full transparency, I am the chair and chair of the
Sustainability committee. But I'm here talking as a private citizen. So when I look at that property, I see trees. I know
there's wetlands, I know there's flooding issues. And it seems to me that that site, if you look at the bigger picture,
is an undesirable place for development. If you look coming into past that, you see the Manatee Mall, you see the Ace
Hardware Mall. They are underutilized assets and they are an eyesore. I don't understand, even though I do understand. I must say a
private owner wants to develop his land, but those sites are basically empty. So why are we thinking about putting in new
building, taking down all the trees, filling it up, creating issues, more flooding, how that's going to affect this situation around it. When we
have empty land and empty buildings that are primed to have tenants or people who maybe can work together, I
really urge that we think about creative uses instead of just building new things. And happy
holidays, you as you as well. Thank you. Anyone else? Austin? Anyone in? There is one hand up. I'm going to unmute them now.
Caller please state your name and address for the record and make sure you unmute yourself.
Peter. Please unmute. Can you hear me now? Yes we can. Okay. Peter is 514 Ashland Avenue. A
couple of things. Thank you for the lady just before speaking about the empty Manatee Village. That place could use some new tenants. But let's take a bigger picture of what you're
talking about geography wise. Look at page four of your staff report and you'll see how the water comes in from the canal into that site. Also right there where it's the thickest,
there's an undercut that goes to the property on the southwest, which originally also was connected to the pond that was filled in on the southeast. The city recently
bought the property just east of Safford on the northeast corner. Because of water mitigation. This whole area historically has been wetlands. Also, if you turn into Green
Dolphin, from the entrance, go up the hill. That's the green sink. When we were in football in high school, we'd go there and swim after practice. So that whole area is a
hydrological and geological asset. Secondly, this as it's been pointed out, this gentleman has had it for a while and I don't see why. Now we, the city has to suffer the
consequences of another building and paving over almost a whole acre of wetlands, and then to be able to get out of the property, they may be
foolishly bought then. And lastly, when it was talked about the mitigation for the Anclote River, that mitigation was done originally when the Miller's Crossing was coming in. And part of that also was
mitigation on the golf course. So I'm not sure why they're claiming any credits for that mitigation, because that property was not included in any of the mitigation agreements with the mirrors
crossing. Thank you. And I hope you deny this application because it's faulty on so many ways. Thank you. Do we have
anyone else? Austin. No, sir. That was the only caller. Okay. Do we have anybody in in to
approve the project besides you? All right. Now? Okay. This is for the public. All right, let's let's come back to the
board for a motion. Motion to deny based off flooding concerns. Second. Okay, so now let's go to commissioner comments. I'll go first. Well,
let me let me let the city manager speak on one of the issues on the setback. Yeah. I just want to speak to the smart code and you can correct me,
but typically, you know, when you're thinking about the growth of your downtown, your downtown's your urban environment. So the parking is in the back and then the suburban environment, the parking is in the front. And
you, you draw a line somewhere where that where you're going to switch and you're going to require all future growth to be more urban. So at some previous board when that was passed,
that mirrors is that line. So any new development will be urban parking in the back, built to the street more like a downtown. And as commissioner mentioned many times, the first
project that comes in, you see what the code and it's shocking and it'll stick out like a sore thumb. Sometimes it's height, sometimes it's setback and so forth. So a lot of times that
first pioneering project looks funny, usually has a new sidewalk requirement that's wider than the rest and so forth. So that's just the policy decision that was made that the line was drawn and
mirrors. We'll talk about this in the workshop for the CRA master plan. You may want to move that line based on these discussions, but that'll that'll be a future policy decision okay. Thank you.
Thanks for clearing that up okay. Let's have commissioner comments I'll go first. I, I understand the urban versus the
suburban look. And I see where you're talking about, you know, downtown like down just for everyone's clarification downtown obviously is urban right. You have all the buildings are close to the
street. You walk down the sidewalk, you go in and out of shops and you do your, your, your, your shopping and such. I could see that. And and I'm in
agreement with Commissioner Coleus is that I think that that really wasn't meant for a medical facility. So I think
that if you were and I know that's got to be one person that starts it, but I have a hard time starting it there. I
think that that corner, having the building come all the way up to the, you know, all the way up to the corner is, is awkward. It obviously it's building on wetlands so we
don't have to approve it. So it's not they don't have that by right now. If, if let's say somebody was bought you know, all the, the retail where the
discount grocers are and they want to turn now. They wanted to build an urban type thing. You could see that coming. You know, you'd be shopping. You come down from downtown, you walk that way. And you had all
those, all that I see that. But starting it there, even though, you know, as the city manager says, that was the line. I, I
just I'm just I just can't see it. I think it's going to be a sore. I think it could be. It could be a traffic issue. You're, you're going to you're
the site view at that corner. You've got people that are turning right on the light. And are they going to be able to see the cars coming around the corner? I, I just think there's
there's too many issues to allow since we don't have to approve it because again, it's being built on wetlands, which, you know, violates the new smart the new comp plan. There
doesn't seem to be any compelling reason to approve this. So I'm I'm going to vote for denial myself. So let's go to Commissioner Banther. Yes.
Thank you. And I do want to thank the applicant. I know it's getting late tonight and you did a good job presenting your case. I hope you can come back with a better project for this site. But after what we
saw last year and what we require of residents to build to 12 13ft, we just can't approve a building this low. I think we're doing you a favor in the long term, because we have a repeat of last year and
your projects done. Thank you, Commissioner Donato, I stated my my my problems with it. I don't like the entrance and exit. I don't, I don't, I like
I said, I lived down the street and Helene showed me that this, this area is, is flooding enough already and projections are that it may even increase
in years to come. I don't like when when the mayor asked me about the channels and where they where they manmade, they were, and I mentioned I should have gone ahead and said
further, but it's irregular at the south, at the southwest end or basically the east end. I'm sorry that that irregularity was due to the tidal effect
that you were talking about, that you said it's not really true wetlands, but my point is, is that that was squared off at one time as my, my, my my recollection. And it's not now
because it continues to to move forward and taking that back out of there and sort of created that irregularity. So I just don't well, something will go there one day probably. I
just don't particularly see this project on that site. I don't think the two mesh. I will say though, because it was mentioned a period, I didn't think that the medical should be there. It's not that far
from the hospital. The hospital is growing. The hospital will indeed be looking for physicians increasing that staff, and they're going to be looking for office space. So
perhaps the medical office is needed, but I just don't think it fits on that site, period. Commissioner. Yes, yes. Now I want to thank the applicant.
He's come before time and time again. He spent his money and his resources being able to look at this. The the smart code, although you are going by the smart code, that's not the
corner where it should start. As the mayor said, it doesn't reflect the three other corners in that area that the smart code hasn't really applied for. So and I have big concerns of
people that are trying to that are on mirrors, heading east, trying to turn north on South Pinellas Avenue. The second car in the turning lane won't even be able to see beyond, because
the building is going to be right there in the corner. And that's it constricts the area too much. As one of the gateways to our downtown commerce. Also, the I'm more in
line with retail as well as even looking at some livable quarters up top with proper setbacks as needed. If the the elevation was there, I understand at some point
something's going to get built there and wetlands are going to get impacted. You know, when that application get presented will be. But I've given you
some suggestions to look at, sir. And and I've just I have issues of using an updated smart code, but with the previous comp plan for this application as well. So that's
why I'm going to deny it. Thank you. Okay. Vice mayor, thank you mayor. I also want to thank you. You've been you've come before me at least three, 4 or
5 times. So I do want to thank you. I don't want you to think that anything you bring before us just gets shot down. But it has to the. The shoe has to fit.
And and I was a little shocked when I saw the 13,000 square foot on that piece of property. Maybe you could come up with something that's a little smaller, a little more
acceptable. But, you know, when I went through the planning considerations here, all five of all six of the six, only one of them was one that I agreed
with and that was using reclaimed water for irrigation. So the other five, I didn't even see how we were meeting the criteria. So I won't be
supporting this tonight, but I do support the fact that you have a good disposition to come in and try to present to the best of your ability, and I
thank you. Okay. If there's no other comments, roll call, please. Commissioner Banther. Yes, Mr. DiDonato? Yes,
Commissioner. Yes, yes, vice mayor. Yes, yes. Thank you sir. Okay, let's go to item number
16. City attorney, will you read this ordinance? Yes. Ordinance 20 2518, an ordinance of the City of Tarpon Springs, Florida, amending the official
zoning, right? Yeah. There you go. Amending the. I'll start over. Yes. Ordinance 20 2518, an ordinance of the City of Tarpon Springs, Florida, amending the official zoning
atlas for 7.72 acres, more or less of real property located at 475 North Highland Avenue on the east side of North Highland Avenue, approximately 500ft
north of the intersection of North Highland Avenue and Keystone Road. Application 2579 from Agricultural District A and Residential Plan
Development District RPD to agricultural A, providing for findings and providing for effective date. That's ordinance 20 2518 read by title
only on first reading. Second reading is scheduled for December 16th, 2025. Published on October 29th, 2025 and
December 3rd, 2025. Did you have to? Is there any is there anybody in all sworn in? Okay,
okay. Are you going to ask for any. I'm sorry. That's all right. Is there any conflict or ex-parte from any of the
commissioners? Okay. Thank you mayor. Thank you. You're welcome. Okay. Thank you. This is an application for rezoning
coming to you from Patrick Fantasia. This is located for 75 North Highland Avenue on the east side of Highland Avenue,
just north of Keystone Road. The future land use map categories are residential, very low and preservation. And there are two zoning on the
property right now agricultural and residential planned development. The applicant wants to go to agricultural with the full property. There's
a some point seven acres of property, of which four and a third are wetlands. That's the area that's covered by the preservation future land use
category. The property is disturbed. It was originally part of a larger piece that had various activities, agricultural activities on it.
And the applicant is currently currently working with the TRC to divide the property into two parcels for single family home
development. This is the site north of Keystone Road, north of Keystone Road on North
Highland Avenue. Again residential, very low in preservation. Future land use. The green is agricultural. The
yellow is residential. Planned development. It includes a portion of a previous property that was never built, the
Pinellas County, purchased to use for stormwater for Keystone Road. This area east of north of that pond and east of this
property, you've already approved a change to agricultural. This map was not updated yet, and this property
is what's left of really. What is a map cleanup item? This is just the context of the county. The county zoning in this area
is mainly preservation and residential rural and the city is residential. Very low on the the parcels that are annexed
into the city. This is within the agricultural and residential estate place based area. So this request is consistent with with the the
2045 Comprehensive Plan and your vision for the character, general character of this area of the city. This is a survey
of the property, basically metes and bounds. Very busy survey, lots of easements and things on here. Again, the applicant is going to split
this in two. There's about three and a third, I think acres of upland that they can use. They're going to build
single family home on each. And a changed agricultural makes single family detached dwellings the only housing
product they can do. And it it it would transfer the standards to larger lot 30,000 square foot lot 200ft wide, etc. So
that's what they're going for. So again this is consistent with the comprehensive plan. It is compatible with the surrounding area state low
level kind of agricultural activities going on in the surrounding area. It's consistent with the long term growth pattern as we've seen
from future land use map and place based map. The city currently serves a property with fire and emergency services and law enforcement
services. We can serve solid waste water. Sewer will come from Pinellas County. So staff is recommending approval of
this rezoning to entirely to agricultural district. There were no responses to public notices. The Planning and Zoning Board reviewed the item on November 17th, and
unanimously recommended approval of the application. Are there any and there was no public comment. Are there any questions on this one? Are
there any questions from the commission? I have none, Commissioner Banther no questions. Commissioner Donato, Commissioner Coleus no questions. Vice mayor unanimous
no questions. Okay. Is the applicant wish to come up and make any kind of statement or first you can ask questions of of staff. To to start with. No,
I do not have any questions for staff. Do you have do you would you want to make a statement. I'll, I'll keep it very brief. It's been a long night. I'm sure you would love for me to be brief. For the record, my
name is Pete Benson and ACP certified planner with avid McAdams for the land planners and surveyors for the project, as well as civil engineers. And we concur with staff's findings
as was as was presented. This is really a cleanup of an obsolete zoning district. The PD is never going to be better. The property owner is the
applicant. It's not a developer. His sole purpose is to split the lot into two parts, into two properties, that he can build a house for himself and a
relative. This the issue. The zoning came up during the TRC meeting for that lot split. We're currently in the process
of doing a minor site plan, which is the lot split process. Fdep has jurisdiction for developments of less than four lots, recently approved the
wetland delineation so that the survey actually be updated. There was a slight shift in the lot line in the excuse me, in the wetland line, there's
roughly 4.4 acres of wetland that will be preserved. There'll be no impacts to that will provide the 25 foot buffer, as required by city code and by the water management district.
So there'll be no impacts will be that protective buffer. All of that wetland area will be located within the northern lot, which has roughly 2.2 acres of
uplands. And quite a bit of that is encumbered by various easements with Duke Energy and others. And we as part of the site plan process, we've identified where that actual
buildable area is within it, the what's called lot one is one point a little over 1.1 acres at the southwest corner of the property. All uplands.
And again, it's the site has all services available that are needed to serve it. And I'm here to answer any questions you have. Thank you very much. Are there any questions of the
applicant, Commissioner Banther? I don't have any questions. Commissioner Donato. Commissioner Coolio's no questions, vice Mayor. No questions. Okay. That's a good
sign. So far. So. All right, so let's go to public comments. Any public comments in opposition to this project?
Okay. Any public Austin is there anything. Yes, sir. There's a hand up. Please state your name and address for the record and make sure you are
unmuted. Once I allow you to talk. All right. Please unmute. 514 Ashland Avenue. I know you
said this is for opposing, but actually not have any problems with this. This is actually the proper way to do things. But I want to point out something the gentleman just said versus what
was done in the previous application process. He said all the wetlands would be preserved. So to me, I have to commend them all for that. Austin cut them off. Thanks.
Just to clarify, this is for or against the application, right? Talking about any other situation is in have aspects of it is not relevant. This is
quasi judicial. You either speak for or against the application. Thank you. Thank you city attorney okay. Anybody
in in support of the application? Austin. Other than than than that person. Anybody else? No, sir. That was the
only hand up. All right. Great. Thank you. Okay, let's come back to the board for a motion. So moved. Second. Okay. Is there any commission comments?
It's a good use of the property. Yes. Very good use of the property. Thank you. Anybody else? Roll call, please. Commissioner. Yes, Commissioner.
Yes, Commissioner. Yes, yes. Vice mayor. Eisner. Yes, yes. Thank you. Okay, let's go to item number 17. Resolution. Do
you want to read this or is it necessary? I'll read it by title. Okay. Resolution 20 2566, a resolution of the Board of Commissioners of the City of Tarpon Springs, Florida,
calling for the municipal general election to be held on March 10th, 2026, for the purpose of electing one Commissioner for seat number one and electing one Commissioner for seat number
two, to serve a term of three years each, providing for establishment of the ballot title for said election. Providing for notice to the Supervisor of Elections, and
providing for the effective date hereof. Okay, Irene, do you have any anything on this? Okay. Any commissioner
questions of either a city attorney or city clerk? Okay. None. Any public comments?
Austin. No, sir. There are no hands up. Okay. Thank you. Let's come back to the board for a motion. So moved. Second. Okay. If there's no further comments, roll call please. Commissioner Banther. Yes,
Commissioner. Donato. Yes, Commissioner. Yes. Yes, vice mayor. Yes, mayor. Yes. Okay, so let's go to number 18. Do
you need to read this? Yes, mayor. Resolution 20 2568, a resolution of the Board of Commissioners of the City of Tarpon Springs, Florida, reestablishing the Marine Commerce Committee, providing
for membership, providing for terms of office, providing for duties. Providing for rules of procedure, providing for reporting responsibility and providing for an effective date.
Okay. City Manager, do you want to say anything on this? Sure. This this item is just to establish the committee with the intent was not to go through the appointment process tonight. You do need it is
written with five regular members, two alternate members. If you wanted to increase that, you would do that part of your motion to approve as amended.
Okay, so I'd like I want to make a comment on this and and see if the board is is would entertain this. Let's let's
extend this to ten members. Let's have seven voting, three alternates. I say we go ahead. We'll start by seniority. I'll
pick two people, then vice mayor, then Commissioner Coleus. Everybody picks two people. If I pick somebody, the commissioner of the vice mayor has had in his mind, he can
substitute with another person. We can get to where we can get ten tonight and we can move along on this. Does everybody have have I mean, we've all had plenty of time to have
interaction with the community to, to do that. Does anybody have an opposition to doing it like that tonight? I have an opposition to that. Okay. Explain why. So I have people
that have sent me 4 or 5 names. Plus there's a whole list of names that Irene has that people already filled that applications. So we don't know.
Any idea of which two this is. And it could make it a very long process. What I'd like to see is we all and this is just my thinking. We all give in any
of the names that we have in our possession, and then they can clear that they're all eligible. And then we could just then at the next meeting,
decide what we need to do as far as how many people. Because if if we don't need to, I don't want to be putting two people down. And Commissioner Banta
has the same two people, or I have one person from Commissioner Cooley's. We need to pick the the best from the group that we have, because we
all may have duplicates or triplicates. So I just think it's an easier way to do it is to get all of the names there have Irene and the city manager
clear that they're all eligible, and then we could select from like we do when we're interviewing for a new attorney or a new city manager. We look it over and we go, these are
the people. And then we could select, you know, the way you're wanting to do it. But we do need to have a verified list first. That's my take on it. So
the the agreed upon procedure was that every commissioner had two selections. Those two selections aren't voted upon. They're accepted. Everybody has
their right to the to their two. So we don't have any veto power over anybody's two. I still like to do it my way tonight. Let's get these. We all know
who we want. We we know if they're residents of the city of Tarpon Springs. And we can get that. Unless somebody doesn't have somebody other than this, the vice mayor, anybody not have two people in
their mind. And if we have duplicates and we get to the end of this process and we're missing somebody, we're missing them. We've got several. But I don't know that the rest of you don't have the same people. That's why. That's why. But
that's why I'm going to go first name to you. Name two, you name two, and we name two. We get this process over with tonight. So my issue dragging this out because otherwise.
It's we've all had plenty of time to have the people that we want. So is anybody willing to
make a motion to, to have this to approve the Marine Commerce Committee with ten members? Seven. Regular voting members,
three alternates. And we go through the process tonight. Does anybody have an issue? That's what I'm whatever's clever. I mean, I can go either way, but I'm fine doing that. Yeah. Irene I think wants to
say something. I just have a question to the attorney. Is that doable for appointment tonight? Since it's where the agenda item is for the resolution? Only tonight. Well, it's at the board's pleasure.
So I think if a majority of the board wants to do that, they can do that. I'm fine with that. That's what anybody would anybody make the motion as as
I've stated. Can I make another one more comment. Yes. No, no. We're going to have a motion and a second. Then you can make your argument. Is there a motion? Okay. I'll motion to
reestablish the the Marine Commerce Committee. And we're doing ten seats total, seven of which are are regular and three are alternate. Does that does that reflect what you said?
Yeah. Okay. I'm and and the selection process tonight and the selection process tonight. Yes that's fine. Is there a
second second okay. So now let's have let's go to public comment and we'll come back and and is there any public comment
on this item. Austin. Yes sir. There is one hand up caller please state your name and
address. Thank you. Oh caller please unmute. Just cut it. We're not entertaining that. So
let's lack of one cut it, cut it Austin okay. So let's come back okay. We have a motions. Let's have discussion again I
think we can move this thing along. I have two people. If everybody else has two we go ahead and do our selection tonight. Commissioner Banther. Yes. For the city attorney
clarity. Can somebody be on two boards? I know we've talked about this before in the past. No, they cannot be on two boards. If we had like a temporary like charter that the answer is yes. This would be a
full standing board. So the answer would probably be I can't see how we can do that. Okay. That eliminates one of my two choices. My my my first
choice and my non-negotiables. Tommy and I think almost everyone up here would would agree with that. My second choice was was was Mrs. Weaver. But you're on planning and
zoning, correct. And that's I don't want to say that's more important, but that's where you're at right now and that's where you've committed to be. So that she was my second
choice for that. I mean, honest to God, I'd have to think about the second choice, to be honest with you. All right. So how
about you, Commissioner De Donato? Four different ones. I, I would say Michael Michael
Lockhart and Jason de Cruz. He has a business. They can't do that as an individual. You can't I don't know. That's not what I heard. That wasn't stipulated. So I said what I
said was the second do. Who was the second one? De Cruz, Jason
de Cruz. Vice commissioner. Yes. I'm going to go with Commissioner De Donato stole one of mine, Mr. Lockhart, but
that's okay. Go with Luis Malison. And then. Scott
Morehead. I do have my second one. Mayor, if I'm going to go ahead and inject that. Okay. Irene is. Do you know if Spanos Harding is a resident? I know he has his operations here. Is he a is he a Tarpon Springs
resident? I believe he's still a resident. Then I would do Spanos Harding for my number two. Okay. Vice mayor. So as I
said earlier and it was ignored, I am not prepared to hand the two over tonight because that's not what we planned to do. And so voting on that's what we're
going to I understand that. So my people that I spoke with, I gave over to fill an application out with Irene, and I don't have those names on
there. I have four names on here that have already been spoken about. So again, and I'm I'm just not going to put two names in. I'm not going to put one name in. I was here to
reinstate the committee and that's what I'm here to do. I know that I got overridden, but I am not going to put a name in because I don't have the name. I wasn't prepared to do it, so I'm not doing it. You're not
overridden. Okay, well, I, I'm you didn't you didn't get the force what you wanted, but you didn't get overridden. It's that's what we have. We have a process here. The names I did, I sent you, I got it, I heard,
I heard it, I heard it. You can repeat it again, I heard it, okay, so mine were Tommy, Klaus and Art Giorgio. So it appears
that we have issues with overlap. So can you amend your motion to just approve the Commerce Committee with seven and three, and we'll make the
picks next week, okay. Yes. I'm in the motion that we're going to just reestablish the committee with seven regular three alternate. And we will select candidates next, next,
next I get a new next Tuesday. Second. There you go. Okay. There's no further comment. Roll call please. Mr. van? Yes,
Commissioner. Yes, yes, vice mayor. Yes, mayor. Yes. Okay, so let's go to item number 19, ordinance 20 2519, an ordinance
of the city of Tarpon Springs, Florida, creating a Human Resources Section, subchapter general provisions by including provisions for general background check requirement
and a special criminal history background check providing for the repeal of ordinances or parts of ordinances and conflict. Providing for severability, and providing for an effective date, that is,
ordinance 20 2519, read by title only on second reading publication was November 19th, 2025. Okay, Tabitha, you want
to present sir? Good evening. Tabitha Adkins, human Resources director number 19. On the agenda is the second reading of ordinance 20 2519. It's the
ordinance describing our requirements of a background investigation for all employees at the city of Tarpon. This ordinance was required by the FDLE to use the Tarpon Springs
Police Department to complete our background searches. So. All right, are there any questions of Tabitha, Commissioner Panther? No, sir.
Mr. Donato. No. Commissioner. Gulyas. No, sir. Vice mayor. Nope. Okay. Are there any public comments on this item?
Austin. Yes, sir. There is one hand up caller, please state your name and address. It has
nothing to do with this. Please unmute. Caller. Caller. Austin.
Come on, just cut it off. Okay. Let's come back to the board. I'd like to have entertain a motion. So moved second. Okay. Any commissioner comments? Roll
call, please. Commissioner. Panther. Yes. Commissioner. Yes, Commissioner. Yes. Yes. Vice mayor. Eisner. Yes, yes. Let's
go to board and staff comments. Chief. Just want to say we had a great time at the Christmas parade this past weekend and looking forward to Snow Place this upcoming weekend.
Everybody just enjoy themselves. Be quiet. But or be patient. Excuse me and enjoy the night, please. City attorney no
comments. Mayor. City manager yeah, I just want to acknowledge our parks crews and our facilities maintenance crews for the all the lighting they put up downtown. The docks
really looks awesome. And the addition of seeing the new flowers on the trail. The trail is looking really good as, as as thousands of people come through our community and just Happy Hanukkah starts on Sunday,
I believe. Okay, City clerk, I have no comments. Thank you. Commissioner Banther. Yes, I forget how we do it exactly. And I want to always support
Commissioner Delacruz First amendment right. But I think Zoom's run its course. And just judging by he's the only one that that actually uses it and the temperament of this board, I don't want to get a situation
where we're deciding when to use it or not. So I think when it's appropriate, and in the new year, we need to have that as an agenda item and formally do, do, do do something with zoom because I just think it's
run its course and I don't want us to get into any kind of issues. Thank you. I agree. Commissioner Donato. I too was going to send kudos to the
staff in the city for the lighting downtown. It looks very, very nice to drive through. Thank you, Commissioner Coleus. I just we had the Christmas parade. It
was a great time. I enjoyed riding with the Densmore family. We threw out a lot of candy. It was a great event. I seen Commissioner Banther throwing out a lot of beads as well. 500
wow. That's awesome. And so we got snow Place coming up and it's just I want to thank staff, public works director and everyone involved in decorating the town. It's a beautiful thing to come down Tarpon
Avenue. You see that happy holiday sign and it's just a grand time. So thank you everyone involved. Thanks. Thank you, Vice Mayor. So yes,
Christmas parade was amazing. I think it was the largest amount of people I'd ever seen. When I turned up Tarpon Avenue, my heart went dropped because
somebody ran out of candy and was borrowing my candy. Was that, you know, it was me? No, I think it was the running mayor that ran out of candy. So.
But it was it was just a very nice event. And there were a lot of happy faces. Everybody enjoyed it. The town looks beautiful. That's. We're all getting the comments that it's
been done really well. So thank you staff. Look forward to Snow Place. And if anybody feels like responding of why we didn't have First Friday, feel
free. It's a social media hot item. Why don't you just kidding. But yeah exactly. But that's my business is to stir
the pot. Thank you Dave. So I just want to wish everybody a, you know, a happy holiday, happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, happy New Year and all of the
it's just a very festive time. And hopefully you can just sit back and relax and try to enjoy the Tarpon Springs holiday time.
That's it. Okay. Thank you. I've heard nothing but positives about the look of our city. I heard today over Mister
Souvlaki. Just people saying the city's never looked this good on Christmas. And yeah, I think you need to think it's your staff and obviously you.
So I want to thank you very much for what you do for our city and resolution. No
resolution. And so and also, I'd like everyone to pray for former Mayor Cooley, who's having a hard time. So with
that meeting adjourned. Thank you. 1001. That's right, a
whole lot. What's up? What can I do for us? All right. It's a
wrap of that one. Oh, well, stop betting on time.