6:30 p.m. I would like to call to order the June 15th meeting of the City of Tarpon Springs Planning and Zoning Board. This
is a quasi judicial hearing, and our attorney representative will explain the quasi judicial portion. Good evening. This is
a quasi judicial proceeding where the board 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 at this hearing the law. Consider the evidence that the law considers competent, substantial, and relevant to the issues. If the competent, substantial and 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 Ordinance, then the board is required by law to find against the applicant, and at this time
I'd ask the board if there's been any ex parte communications that need to be disclosed. No. Seeing none, I will proceed to swearing in the
witnesses. Would anybody who wishes to speak tonight please stand and raise your right hand to be sworn in? Do you swear or affirm that your testimony in
these proceedings this evening will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Thank you. In my haste,
I got just a tad bit of order, but that was a very important that we took care of that. Thank you. So we're going to step back just a step, and
we're going to go with a roll call please. Vice Chair Vessey here. Mr. Rocklin here, miss
early here, Mr. Collins here, Mr. Morris here, miss Wade here, absent Miss Swenson and chairperson Curtis. And now
we're going to have our Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to
the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Rocklin,
if you wanted to remain standing, we'll have a moment of reflection. I think even though Thanksgiving generally
falls in November, that we have to reflect and give thanks for all of us in the city that we live in and work in and enjoy.
We have a lot of diversity here. We have a lot of involved people. We have plans going forward that always seem
considerably more positive than negative, and we have to thank our higher power, our creator, our God, for that. And we have to thank each other to some degree because it does take a
team. There's no one individual that runs the show. It's a very Democratic board, very democratic city. There's a lot of exchange of ideas, a lot of
banter, a lot of disagreement from times to times. But we always wind up on our feet and moving forward. And I just want to say that I, for one, my wife
and I think the majority of the community is very thankful for that. Thanks. Since we had our.
Since we've had our quasi judicial announcement and spring of speakers, I did want to just do a clean up of.
Everybody's got this posted, but just for those in attendance, and I would like to say thank you for everyone coming. It's been a little bit quiet in the last few meetings.
These are meeting procedure reminders. Please speak in the microphone at all times. Sometimes they get turned off. We're not supposed to have any
side conversations during the conduct of the meeting. And ask the chair for a break if we need one, and then evidently
that the staff remind the board during the meeting of the instructions to preserve the integrity of the meeting. Okay.
Well, then, as I buy some time to get our agenda, I think we are on to our first item of
business. Go ahead, staff, Miss Mcniece. Okay, thank you. Pat Mcniece, planning supervisor. Your first item this evening is
a request for site plan modification from Co Hatch of Tarpon Springs. And this is a
request to modify the site plan approval resolution for this project. The project was
approved under resolution 2020 242, and it had a series of conditions on it. The request is to remove one of those
conditions. That's condition number seven. The applicant was required to provide parking for the additional square footage
of floor area for this project, which they did. And the provision stated that the
parking be provided until a city sponsored solution was was developed, or until a parking study showed that there was no
need for the additional parking. The Board of Commissioners did consider a parking study. The city put out a request for
proposals, and the board rejected the four respondents to that RFP, and they didn't take any additional action. In
the meantime, the city has expanded parking downtown in in this area, and both parking and enhanced opportunity for
parking. There's a list of actions. And initiatives the city has provided since that
since the project was approved. And just as a reminder, the T5B transect that this project is located in, in your special
area plan does not require applicants to provide parking where there is parking available within a five minute
walk. Staff has looked at this. We feel that the condition has been met. The city sponsored solutions have been and
continue to be identified and implemented, so staff is recommending that the board
approve resolution 2026-22. That would be to remove condition seven from site plan
approval resolution 2022-42. Are there any questions? In the spirit of organization will
start at our left for questions for staff, I have no questions. Thank you. I have no questions
at this time. I'm not looking at the prior. Motion that we
sustained, but that was a. So please speak up. Do you want me to bring it down? Okay. All
right. Did we put it that way? I'm trying to recall and I don't have my notes in front of me. Did we put it that way? It was just merely conditional and
likely to be revoked. Number seven. I'm not sure what you're asking. This is not a conditional use. It's a site plan. It was originally a site
plan. This would be a modification of the site plan. The condition was added by the Board of Commissioners to the original resolution. Right. The
condition was added by the the commissioners. So tonight you're asking us to do away with that condition? Yes, we we
are asking that it be removed because it's no longer needed.
Okay. Thank you. No questions, no questions. Ready for a
motion? No. Miss Mcniece, just so I understand. What precipitated the necessity of
this particular meeting at this time, was there a date? Was there a mechanism that was installed at the original site plan and this needed to be
cleaned up? How how did this the the request of the applicant. And they did provide an extensive narrative letter that is in your packet that
that's what precipitated the. The request was they applied for site plan modification. Thank you. And then if you have
in your notes and I just read the request. How do you have a copy and can you read specifically what the condition
was that was placed on the site plan approval? Yes. And that resolution is in your packet. The condition read coach shall
provide for parking associated with building an additional 6750ft■!S. This additional parking shall be required until
such time that a city sponsored parking solution is implemented, or a formal parking status study indicates that the additional parking is not
needed. Super. And is there any chance you could put that on the screen? Do you have that on the screen? No, I don't mean to be too difficult. I just was
just curious so that everyone could read that. Or I mean,
it's not just for me. It would be for anybody that's present. Let me see if I can zoom in. And so if I may be so bold, I'm
going to just give a side note. Is that this particular issue, for those that weren't present, then this was a very important and highly discussed and
debated portion of the site plan applicant for the whole project. And of course, parking is a premium. And at that point
there was great concern about that. Okay. So all right. So there it is again. And then it was in it's in everybody's
package. Coach Kohat shall provide. Okay. Super. So if I can drill into this just for a second, I'll ask two questions.
There will be one, but it's two parts. Has the city sponsored a parking solution? Yes. The
city's added parking spaces, as mentioned in your memo, since that time, the city has added the parking spaces. Yes, under under lease. We've initiated
two hour parking in the 100 block of East Tarpon. So that provides for turnover and greater availability of parking.
We've installed banners at all downtown lots that note free parking. We've installed directional signs and developed
a walking walking map that shows where the parking is. There is an additional memo from our economic Development manager in your packet that
lists all the parking. That is, some leased or is owned by the
city, and there is a map of where that parking is. Okay. I
just have one more question and it's going to be redundant. But it's important because I was here at those meetings, banners
aside and crosswalks aside, and I know that the staff has approved, but I think it's really, really important at
this time. That the city feels that it has implemented a parking solution to the lack of
parking that Co hatch was required to supply, but has not. This is a really clear statement. Cohort shall. And unless the city will. And has
done. And so staff is going to say. And the city is going to agree that because I know what you're talking about, those spaces, those were existing
prior to Co hatch. We haven't created any new parking spaces. We we. Seven yeah sorry I and thank you for helping me here, but I would like to hear staff
say we've created new parking spaces since the leases existed. Yes, we've we've added leases co hatch was was required by that condition to provide 18
spaces. We've added more than 18 spaces leased by the city. We have created some new parking spaces on Tarpon Avenue through a modification of the
bump outs. The rest is outlined in that memo, which I can pull up if you want to go through each one. No, I, I trust you, okay. And, and I, and I did try
to read it earlier, but I just couldn't get it all. Okay. I just, it, it was very important at that time. I think it's still very important at this time. And I'm kind of putting my flag in the sand because it
appears, because I drive that road every single day and it's full all the time, and I'm hesitant. This is not part of
the program. This would be more discussion. I this is a get it out, get out of jail free card that we're about to give away. And it's a very important one because that was part of the
condition then. And now it seems that maybe something has changed. I didn't personally see that change. I didn't see any new parking spaces created. I feel like there's a little bit of a shell game going on,
but staff feels in the city feels that way. Okay, no more questions. Okay? Any applicant is here if you want to. And I
think this at this time, if staff is done, then we'd be ready for any presentation by the applicant. If they fail to
do so. My name is Cody Bracey, community manager at Co Hatch. I just want to thank you for your time tonight. Tonight is
the culmination of what for us has been a couple of months worth of conversation, trying to figure out a new solution for us as we continue to try to
serve Tarpon Springs and be a part of the community here. One of the things that we have found is that the condition in which we agreed to, and just to
just to recant or just to recall that conversation in 2023, what I heard over and over again, and I deeply respect a lot of the comments
that were made there. It was not a personal attack about Co hatch whatsoever. It was an issue about parking. And I think coach found its way in the middle of people being
frustrated about parking and the lack thereof, and they found their way in a project that we needed to solve two problems at the same time. How do we get co hatch approved and
how do we get and create more parking? That was in 2023, January of 2023. In that in that time, we have not only
made Co Hatch a place that hopefully serves as much of Tarpon Springs as we possibly can, but all of our members activate and are part of Co
Hatch. Daily parking has not been an issue for them. We have found additional parking that is a lease that comes out of
our monthly as a $500 lease a month. It has never been used. We would be glad for our people to use it, but they have said
that they don't need to. Once again, whether or not Tarpon Springs has adequate parking. That is such a debate that even in 2023 was a part of the
debate. And that is not something I want to argue or fight today. What I want to say and what co hatch on behalf of Co Hatch. What I'd like to say is the 18 additional spots that
we provided in a period of time that we were trusting the city and had the promise of the city as we gave the promise that we would be proactive in looking
and searching for new solutions. In 2026, we feel like 18 additional spaces have been provided. That was not our opinion. That was something that we asked based on a
request of our team saying, looking at our budget, budgets are tight for everyone right now. We're looking at our budget going, there's 500 extra dollars that we're spending every month. Not utilizing it
whatsoever. Is this something the city feels like we're ready to do? And that's why we're here today. So I appreciate your time. I'll answer any questions that you might have.
But in regards to us and co hatch. We'll continue to do what's best for the city, not based on just what we believe but what we're told. But we
would love this portion to go back into our budget so it can go back out to the community.
Thank you. I need to say yes. I what is your name? My name is Cody Bracey. Hi, Cody. If you didn't mind just waiting just
for a minute. So now any board member could ask you some questions and it appears she's ready to go. Go ahead. Well,
it's not a question. I just wanted to advise the board. Whoops. Okay. So that at this moment we're just questions for the applicant. All right. I was
just seizing the little break to to talk about a conflict I had. But go ahead. I think we're going to I think we're going to need to hear about the
conflict. I agree yes. Before everyone arrested okay. It's not a big thing, but I, I do want the board to know I know
Cody, I would see him all the time. And I say that we don't hang out socially or anything like that. We're not related. But I would see him all the
time because the Women's Club of Tarpon Springs would use Co hatch. He allowed us to use coach for our meetings. So that's really all there is to
it. We were very nice to each other. I would see him and he'd say, hi, how are you doing? And back and forth. That would be the extent of our relationship.
Is that correct? That's correct. Okay. Council. I don't believe
so. Council. And I'm sorry, sir, this is just a this is just a board discussion. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Did you did you pay
for the space when you used coach, did I or did did your organization or whoever you were with pay the standard rate? Cody will have to correct me if
I'm wrong, but I think he allowed us because of our funds and our 501 C three to start out for no cost. We started out for no cost. So yeah, that is a
benefit to the club. But then I think we started paying. I'm not sure I can answer. Go ahead. Yeah. So coach has a system
that any nonprofit, any 501 C three that's doing good in the neighborhood. We allow scholarship in form of a discounted subsidized monthly.
So for example, any nonprofit has that access with that access. Also, we have provided the women's club because their basic need wasn't necessarily using co-working space. It was
to use the the larger meeting room that we have for their meetings. So we allowed them to use that once a month. Still do, still will. But that that is
something that we would do for anyone, not just because they were or weren't on a part of a team in Tarpon Springs. What was the timeline of the
meetings that you would have at coach once a month, from what month and year to what month and year? I can answer that.
2020, 2025 beginning of 2025. Till present. Thank you. And when did when did you become
aware that she was on the board? Sir? Today. Okay. Okay. I'm
thinking if it's how how did you did you lead the club's initiative to reserve that space? Did I read the club's.
Did you. Did you who? It sounds like there was several ladies that went together. Is that correct? Probably ten. 12. Okay. Were you in charge of setting that up or was it somebody else?
No, that would have been the president. Okay. So you had no involvement in picking coach or any of. No, no. Okay. Okay.
Because it's publicly it's a service or a opportunity publicly available because she wasn't involved in picking
coach, acquiring coach. No other benefit that would be different than anybody of the public would have received. I,
I'm believing well that it's not an abstaining conflict. Are you do you believe that you can be fair and impartial, ma'am? Absolutely, absolutely. I would
say I would say, based on the testimony that we we can proceed, sir. And I'm going to express the same kind of conflict because they offer this space to a lot of
nonprofits, which a lot of us belong to. So Tarpon Community Council also meets there. I haven't been this year, I haven't been able to attend, but in past years I attended. I
didn't book it. I didn't pay for it. We didn't get anything out of it, except they offer this space to everybody that's a nonprofit. Same issue. I could still feel like I and
you'd be able to be objective about it. And sir, when did you become aware of this young lady being on the board? Miss Wade?
Miss Wade being on this board? Yes, sir. Today. Okay. I think as miss Wade, same same situation based based on the
examination, I think there's no no conflict there. It sounds like there may have been somebody else that wanted to speak on that issue or another another conflict. Yeah. I was
actually a member of coach from 2024 to 2025. I left nothing against Cody. I just worked out of my home office more than anything. I was also in a downtown district
organizational meeting there. It's a nonprofit, and I'm also a member of the the Tarpon Springs Area Historical Society. So as you can see, there are
many community opportunities here with which coach is helping and we're involved in them. So and you and you as well, do you feel you can be fair and impartial based on
your prior relationship? Yeah, yeah. Again, it was nothing against Cody or his organization. I just left because I was working from home more than anything. Understood? Understood. Any remaining board
members that have any issues? Okay. I, I think based on what we've heard, that we're okay to proceed. Each board members declare themselves able to be
fair and impartial. I'm comfortable with us going forward. I was going to volunteer that. If if anybody feels uncomfortable and thinks that I could not be fair, I'd
be glad to recuse. But I truly believe I can. Agree. Thank you. Counsel will continue forward with the full board, with no
one abstaining. Excellent. Does anyone have any questions for. Yeah. Cody, the the the representative from Coach Cody.
I have a question real quick. So I, I've seen a lot of development since there was a meeting in here and there's a lot of heated argument over parking was probably, I agree,
one of the most critical decision makers for people on which end of the spectrum they were going to be on in the decision of having coach implemented in our community.
My question is, I see a lot of things with other businesses thriving. I see you bring the community together. The longest table, for example. That was incredible to see. You're going
to be saving 500 bucks. Apparently, if if number seven falls off here, right? Is it safe to assume that you'll reinvest that into your
business and or the community? So one really great thing about what I get to do is I get to use our space, our square
footage, our meeting rooms to serve our community the best way possible with what we have a few limitations to my role presently, is that I do not get to state where every single
line, item and budget piece goes. What I know about the character of the company I work for is that that is 100% the goal. Does it. Will it get
reflected exactly in a person's opinion on what how it should? I can't guarantee that, and I can't guarantee that I will put that budget additionally towards anything outside of
continuing to make our space and our our members and our nonmembers happy when they come in and also when they leave the way that we serve the community. My individual role as not only
a community manager, but the way in which I view my role in serving the city. I'm not planning on that doing anything but being helped by tonight's
decision. If it is decided. Thank you. Any additional questions for the applicant? Go
ahead, Mr. Roff. Thanks, Mr. for coming tonight, and thank you for letting coach assimilate into the community in the way that I think the
company was desirous of when you had all your informational meetings and stuff before. I know people fear the unknown to them. It's the end of the world. Ten more cars are going to come
to town every day. I've seen it in countless communities where I've lived and worked over the four decades that I've been in public service. I didn't see any negative impact to the
business district because of this, and I travel up and down several times a day, and one of the prior mayors had actually asked me to do an informal survey of availability for
parking at different times on different days, there is parking. People want to park right in front of where they're going. That's human nature. God forbid somebody has to walk a block. Some people are
handicapped, some people are encumbered. That's that's a separate issue. But I think pretty much there has not been any negative impact that I can
perceive on the downtown community district or Tarpon as a whole. My question is, when they caused you to lease those additional spots, where was
that? Was that in one of these areas? Now that is this church? Yeah. So that was part of the the big picture here. And it
was deemed to be unnecessary by your attendees and your customers. Yes. And declare to clarify, to make sure that it
that the revisionist history isn't muddied. What we wanted to do is provide additional spaces, knowing that there had been community tension around.
We need better parking solutions. This is going to hurt. We don't want to be a part of the hurt. We want to be a part of the help. So this wasn't something that was forced upon us. This was
something that we worked in collaboration. My my CEO asked the question how many additional spaces would suffice? It was came 18 spots was what
was come up with in that moment. That was all along the premise that solutions would take place. It is in your judgment and the city's judgment on whether those things have taken place
or not. We're not going to argue that. We've just asked that question. What's been answered to us is, yes, we think those 18 spots have been
sufficient. So in regards to our role in the community, in regards to my role as a as a person that cares deeply about Tarpon, I'm not saying that we've solved parking problems
in Tarpon Springs. I'm saying that solutions have been made in order for us not to have to cover those 18 spaces. Thank
you. Staff at clarification. Just because I think I, I think I heard someone say that the parking you leased was on the
map, that they have it. It's not it was on south of us. Okay. Just want to make sure. Did did.
I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I was having a hard time. I'm sorry. Okay. The parking lot leased, and Cody can
confirm this if I'm wrong, is on the east side of South Lewis Avenue. Okay, okay. One other thing I'd add. I don't know if it's necessary to tonight, but
one of the things that we tell every member that comes in for the first time or is starting their membership with us, we tell them that there's one rule in regards to parking downtown
outside of letting them know where our lot is, that if they ever struggle to find parking, they can always park here. The second thing is that we always tell them they're not allowed to park on the street, and
that's something that's very important to us because we tell everybody who's a member here, we want you to feel like this isn't a place that you just come. This is a place that you belong to. If you are working downtown, if you have an
address downtown, you need to act like a downtown business owner. And so we do not park on the streets. That's a rule. It's also something that it's just a rule. I can't enforce it.
I have no law jurisdiction. It's something that I've gotten a few arguments with some of my members about. And they no longer park downtown. At least
they better not. Anyway, we are trying to be as proactive as we can on our end as well. Thank you. Are there any additional
questions, any more staff comments? No. Thank you. Super. Okay. So thank you very much for your presentation. Are
there any public comments? In regards to this application? Please state your name and address before you start. Thank
you. Yes, Vasily Farkas 139 East Tarpon Avenue. We own the building and the businesses adjacent to coach, and we have a great relationship. First, I
want to say we have a great relationship with Cody and Coach and and we welcome all new businesses. I'm probably, you know, one of the most
pro-business persons around here. The. When we brought up and and in all due respect to
the to the staff, I don't agree with some of the the staff. Comments of the of the
resolutions. And and again, I'm here I want to be positive. I don't want to be negative. The. There is a parking problem,
especially for service oriented businesses. And we have a service oriented business. We have a shoe store, we have a shoe repair. We have an orthotic clinic. We see
handicapped people, we see elite athletes. We see people that are injured. We see all sorts of from all sorts of people from ages and all different ages. We hear all the
time. In fact, a lady came today and said, I sent an email to to the city about parking. And I, I not saying this
because of coach or anything anybody else, but things have changed in a downtown area. People more people are working remotely, so people will come
to coach or to the new coffee shops, which I think are great. I, I, I encourage more business, I want more business downtown, but that means more people are
staying all day long. So a lot of parking, a lot of your closer parking is being taken up. Yes, they added two hour
parking on a. I'm not sure if it's 1 or 2 block area. I think it's one block, maybe two, but it's not enforced. And so and
not that I want all these people getting tickets downtown, but but it's not enforced. And when we talk about we have plenty of parking within a five
minute walk or I think it's a quarter of a mile that works in cooler areas. That doesn't work so well in humid Florida. When
people need have an appointment, whether they're coming to me or they're going to the meat market or a hair salon, which we lost one of the hair salons
downtown, and be it because they moved to an area that has better parking for appointments. This is a concern because we have all different types of
businesses, and I'm not saying my business should come before anybody else's, but I lost a large contract with one of my
safety footwear programs because people said, we can't find parking when we come because they come during their workday, and I now have to
travel to more customers homes and patients homes to see them. So whether the 18 spaces is approved or disapproved, that's
not going to solve everything. And, and I think and I welcome that it's nice that there's more people downtown. We want that, but more people requires
more parking. And we've had this conversation with the city. We keep talking about parking garage. Well, that's if we're
talking about a parking garage, that means we need more parking. And we we have more restaurants coming downtown, which I think all of this is great, but we need to have better solutions.
And I wish they'd come. You know, whoever it is with our study, with our survey, come and talk to my customers. Come and talk to us. I'm there seven days a week. And I'm not saying
I have all the answers, but I, I travel, I go to other places and I see other downtowns that have either angled parking like we used to have downtown or
back in angled parking, which is a new thing. Now. It's apparently it's safer. And with the legend of the parking
downtown, like it talks about Truist Bank and their spaces, well, that's available after 6 p.m. The, you know, unmarked
spaces, they're unmarked. And. I just I think we can resolve this together if we work together and look at some solutions. But I don't think we
need to look at that. There is a there is a problem here. The library. It's it counts parking at the library with the library.
It clearly says parking for library patrons only. The signs are there and. So that's,
that's what I mentioned. That's these are my concerns. And like I said. I'm glad these businesses are here. I want to do new things in my business. I
want to bring more people here. But we got to have parking and we've got to look at a big comprehensive plan, you know, so I'm going off tangent, but
this is this is serious. And the longer we wait, it's just going to cost more. We may lose some businesses and you know, things happen. Properties get
bought up. Orange Street is another area where we could have a lot of angled parking. I'm going off tangent, but my,
my, my concern is to say, and with all due respect to, to the, to the staff, because I think they do a wonderful job. I don't think we've, we've, we
haven't solved this this problem long term. These are my concerns. Thank you. Thank you,
Mr. Fox. Appreciate your kind and thoughtful words. It appears we have another gentleman that would like to make public comment. Please state your name and address before your comments. Good
evening. My name is John Tier Penny, 22, North Spring Boulevard. Chairman, members of the board, city attorney. Staff.
No one is against coach. It's. It's like Mr. Cody said. It's strictly parking. It's not personalities. It's not the
business. It's it's parking. So to evaluate it properly, you have to have the proper data. The data the city staff gave you is deeply flawed. It's
flawed in two ways. It's flawed in the information they gave you, and it's flawed in the information they left out. Okay. Not to be redundant to what Mr.
Feckless said, but the parking recounting 54 spaces, they said, you have 325 spaces downtown, 54 at the library says you park there. We're going to tell you
a way. Okay. It's on the sign. I took a picture of it today. The unmarked spaces, 72 unmarked spaces. How many people realistically coming
from out of town, Trinity, New Port Richey, Palm Harbor are going to park in an unmarked space that they don't know, and it's going to get towed away. I don't I think those 72 need to
be taken away. Also, the staff left out that in the development agreement with the new proposed mixed retail hotel building, the city committed to
give them four parking spaces on Court Street. So those are taken out. The Truist Bank, like Vasily said, they're it's right in the staff report.
They're no good from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at night. So that comes up to about 125 spaces, which is about just exactly half of what the city staff has put in
their proposal. The things that are left out are the new mixed use hotel building. What what's going to happen when that comes in? What's going to happen on the old tea house? That's going
to be an event center that the of the family that bought it is spending significant sums of money to restore and make it an event space. On Orange Street.
You have the New Mexican restaurant coming in at the corner of court and alternate 19, and then Mr. Kokolakis
bought the vacant property between Ring and Safford Avenue on, on on Orange Street, just to the east of the trail. So
you have all of these things coming in. And personally, I, I do agree with the applicant's letter that the spaces that
they're leasing are useless. So. But that doesn't relieve the city of the obligation to hold them to account, to provide the
spaces or some, some in some fashion. If those don't work, then what's the what's the solution? There's there's probably a couple solutions.
One is that the you, you let them out of the the you let them out of the lease contingent upon paying money towards some of the parking lots that the city's already
having to lease for these things or the better solution, the global solution is anybody that comes in like that, that
needs additional parking, has to pay into a parking impact fee fund at. You know, I'm not saying full boat of a parking lot it creates to create a
parking space, but at some number that, you know, 18 times something and that would help. The other thing I think that was misread, misrepresented a
little bit is in the downtown district, parking is not required for an existing building, but they're not within the existing building. They more than double the size
of the building. Okay. They put that building was 6000ft■!S. Thy added 6700ft■!S. So that's where the parking requirement came on.
Any of your site plans that you did downtown around the city? US 19 you would not approve a new construction without parking, without retention, without all the things that are
required by code. And that's what created the the fervor that Mr. Vessey mentioned that it was it wasn't new business. Listen. My family has been in
business on Tarpon Avenue for 115 years this year, 1984, I started buying historically correct buildings with Louis Pappas and Fred Howard, Howard Park, Pappas restaurant.
Architecturally and historically significant buildings. I don't believe that anyone has brought more business to the downtown core, new businesses, to the downtown
core than myself and my partner. So we're pro-business, but we made a real effort not to do anything that negatively impacted existing businesses.
And this well, it's a nice business. It's, you know, people enjoy it. It's it's it turned out good. The parking is an issue. It really is an issue.
And like Mr. Fackler said, you know, are we like schizophrenic or bipolar or what? On one hand, the staff says, oh, parking is great. On the other hand, we
have this inspire. We're paying $100,000 to have some planning group from out of town come and tell us that we need a 600 place parking, 600 space
parking lot, parking garage on Court Street between Lemon and Court. Which isn't. So I would
ask you to defer it, have the data re rerun more accurately, and maybe take some of the suggestions about. If you want to let them out of the lease,
make them pay. Pay the city, the 500 bucks a month to. Take, take some of the sting out of parking lots. They're leasing around. They're leasing a parking lot behind the old National Bank. They're leasing
one from the Greek church. It's just a. Or create the parking, you know, defer it and create parking impact fee fund that that not only coach would pay
into, but other businesses that come in and have a parking deficiency would pay into. Thank you for your time and thank you for your service. Sir.
I have a question. Not quite yet. Mr. Tarpon. Yes, thank you very much for those wise words. Now, there isn't usually a
question period for public comment. Just want to make that clear. But at this moment, if you don't mind, board member has a question. Sir, there was
something that caught my attention. You said the data I received and I was wondering what data you're talking about. The backup material. I'm sorry.
Your backup material? Oh, from. Okay, I thought material from parking. Thank you. Just our materials. What you're
referring to. Yes. I'm sorry I didn't hear you. Yes, the answer is yes. He's just referring to the data that staff provided. Okay. Thank you.
I didn't hear his. Yes. Sorry. Thank you. Additional public comment. Name and address, please. Lack is 514 Ashland
Avenue. Excellent suggestion about parking impact fee. Would you repeat that, Mister chair? Any suggestion about a parking impact fee, like a concurrency
fee? Well, just like we have rec fees, library fees, park fees, water utility, hookup fees. Same thing for parking. And you can do that I would
think most likely within the CRA. So you would start there. I wasn't really planning on speaking on this, but there are a couple of things that I heard that are really important. The
gentleman from Coach Cody, and I apologize for referring by first name. He said that there were 18 spaces and they're never used. Well, if they're not used by the people that are the coach people, that means
they're using the the other parking spaces. That's either between faculties building or the court street or down by the Bank of America or the church.
Well, why isn't there a requirement to have their people specifically park there? Because that's like a safety valve. And it allows for those
of us who would like to stop at the Acropolis, or if you need to visit any other store downtown to be able to find a space. Usually I end up having to park, maybe down on the
other side of the court street lot and cut through. But so in essence, at this point, I don't see the necessity of relieving that safety valve. But I do
agree with the previous comments that. You need to get a definitive parking plan study done before you really move on
with some of these other things and where that is in its process, I don't know. But as far as this particular item and the particular request, you
either defer it or deny it and recommend denial to the Board of Commissioners until and you can again put another condition like was in the condition that
said a specific, valid sealed study survey has been provided to the city to make a determination on this, Mr. Terrapin said, we have to have all the data, not the pick and
choose pieces. Thank you. Thank you for your presentation. Do we have any additional Public comment, please and thank you. Hi. Good evening. My name is
Cindy Trapani, 22 North Spring Boulevard. I just wanted to comment and give some of you some background on the parking study that was discarded by the Board of Commissioners. Some of you may have been here and been
aware of it, I was involved in it, along with my husband and Mr. Farkas and several other multiple other property owners and businesses. When the commission was evaluated, it issued an RFP for parking
consultant to do a study of the downtown parking. And we all felt collectively that having an outside out of town consultant come in and do a study on an issue that we
property owners knew more about than they did, was really not a good use of city money. And so what we said to the commission at the time, when they did as the staff said, they did reject the RFP, that all those bids
and they did not issue an RFP. But the discussion at the time from all of us that were in the audience, all the property owners, is that we would work with the city in a cooperative
manner and come up with some creative parking solutions. It's not just parking numbers, it's also parking locations. It's also whether or not this
two hour limit is working or not working. We didn't even haven't even really implemented that fully yet. It's only been there, I think maybe two months. And then there are some
businesses that have a need for an immediate turnover. Those service businesses, the meat market, Mr. Farkas businesses, a beauty shop, which we don't have anymore because they had were having problems. So that
was the idea at the time. It wasn't that we would never study it that, okay, we'll just, you know, get rid of the consultant. The idea was to get rid of the consultant doing it and use the talent and the
experience that we had downtown along with the staff for a variety of reasons, I guess. Change of administration, maybe change of board members, whatever. It never has been done. So we're certainly
willing. I say we, my husband and I, I believe Mr. Farkas as well, and I imagine many other property owners and business owners would be interested in working on that and coming up with some solutions. We've kind
of nibbled at it here and there. There's been a few new spaces found on Tarpon Avenue. There's been a couple on court. I mean, it's just been a very ad hoc process rather than a global
solution. So if you whatever recommendation you make on the application, we would suggest and hope that you would also make a recommendation to the commission that the study is needed. And it can be done with
the talent and experience that we have in the city. And this property owners would clearly be happy to work with the city staff to to develop that. So thank you very much. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Any additional public comment? Would the city
staff have any closing items? No, thank you, Miss Mcniece. So normally this is the point at which I would ask for a motion,
but I'm going to be a little unusual here. And I'm going to do a summary because I feel that I had a wider perspective of the elements that are being
discussed here, and that perhaps unintentionally, staff did not provide enough background for the seriousness
of this application and this issue. So I'm going to take liberty to do that, whether it's appropriate or not. I'm going to weigh in first and say it's a rare occasion that I
would say that staff did not do a terrific job, but I feel that the backup data in regard to parking is misleading and disingenuous. The dates are
flawed. They don't apply specifically to this, and I frankly would disregard any of that background data as
disingenuous and was meeting an end. That's my opinion. But the public comment of those that paid close attention would
support that. In addition, I think that this application hides a greater issue that you've heard from the public
comment and that it is much more serious than comes across as just a casual, let's just disregard that. Number seven,
it was a very serious application. A tremendous amount of thought was put into it, and that by us revisiting something that was done just
kind of casually would set a precedent over such a serious topic that it would create maybe a watershed or a tidal
wave of, of, of more comments or more applications. Excuse me, the same way. And I think that
we've heard from the only term I could use as city fathers, those people that have the widest perspective that can be
applied are saying, hey, pump the brakes. And they're providing great input as to some alternatives. Unfortunately, the young
gentleman that's here, who's well liked and they've played their hand well, it's just a little number for them that they want to get off their
budget line item. But it just happens to sit right at the precipice of something so important to the city of Tarpon Springs that perhaps instead of letting that boulder roll off
the hill, we use it as a lever to make our commissioners and ourselves do the more important thing, which is address this issue. And unfortunately,
that's that little lock pin right there. So again, I'm probably over my skis here, but I thought that it was really important that I, as the chair
temporary for today, try and said some shed some more light and pull back on what I think is a completely flawed request
and application. With that being said, I'll welcome a motion. Can we make a comment or not? A motion please?
Chairman, I would like to. Resolution 2026-22. Removal of condition number seven recommend approval. Do we have
a second? I'll second for discussion. I let me say first I really would like to say this
regarding. We heard from two businesses tonight, feckless and coach and I've been to both
businesses. So I really respect them and I really respect what coach has accomplished in our town. I'm I'm just really
impressed with what they're doing. And. Mr. Vessey, I'm sitting here thinking, you know, this is not. To be honest, I
was at first sitting here thinking, you know, they've done so well and and, and I haven't noticed any parking changes. And we heard from a
fellow zoning board member who hasn't noticed any changes. But once Mr. Vessey spoke, it was I
got back to reality and it was it is a horrendous problem for downtown. So I really tend to agree with you that that whole
problem should be addressed and seriously and soon, because of the poor individuals like backless shoe store and coach
and the hair salon that we lost and things of this nature. So I, I agree with what you're saying. Any additional comments from
the left? We could start all the way at the end and everyone could share their comment. Yes. Thank you. After reviewing the application, first of all. I
think we need to this is not a city vote right now. This is about one condition or not. Condition. Yeah. Condition number seven to be removed for one applicant. We're not here
to solve the Tarpon Springs parking problem. And we couldn't do it with this one application anyways. So I think I understand the community. I
understand what they're saying. But this is this is what's in front of us. And we are here to resolve this one issue. So I would like to lay that out. Second is 18 parking spots.
United Methodist Church. It's twice the distance of any city parking. They're not being used. I would want to get rid of it
to like to to make their applicants park their like. So we're just going to punish one business out of everybody downtown. That makes no sense
to me. No, no other business gets to pay for. I mean, they could pay for parking, but it's like I, I just don't get that. And I understand no one using
it because it's twice the distance. And then. I'm going to stop there. But that's my opinion on this. Thank you. Yes.
I just want to tread a little bit lightly on not putting a city's problem solely on the shoulders of one business. I do appreciate everybody who came
out and spoke, because I think every one of you have something of value to bring. I especially liked Mr. Trapani's parking impact fee idea. I like Mrs.
Trapani's idea of no matter how we vote, to attach a recommendation to forward some sort of parking solution board that could be run by the community, that could really address the true problem. I
don't think it prudent to stick these 18 spots that nobody is using. That is actually quite a fair distance from coach on coach. I don't think that's
right personally. But if everybody were to use those, we'd all be in much better shape. You know, everybody, if we could park there and have all those steps in. But I think
the bigger problem lies in the city's scope of responsibility. So if we could address that, I really like Mrs. Trapani's recommendation of forwarding
some kind of. Some kind of opportunity for the commissioners to put together or approve some kind of parking solution board, because it is a major problem. We need to
figure out how to get people in and out. I personally use Acropolis. I park downtown every day. Maybe I'm part of the problem, but but I really
do think it's it's an issue that I want to see, Mr. Farkas. I want to see him thrive. I want to see him get bigger accounts that can come and see him. So that, I think, is the
major issue, and I don't think it's going to be resolved by sticking condition number seven on coach. Yes, ma'am, I agree.
I don't think it's our job to tell the commission what to do. And I don't think that we should punish one business who did comply with what was required for them. I'm sorry,
but we have no evidence that the hair salon left just because of parking. I've never had trouble parking downtown myself. Never. Now, Mr. Farkas
maybe needs two handicapped spots. If. But otherwise, you just have to walk across the street. It's not that far. And if we do an impact fee kind of
thing, this is, again, not in our lane, but it shouldn't be just for new businesses that I thought we were trying to attract businesses. That's just putting up one more barrier for
them. But. With the we're supposed to rule on the evidence that was presented, the evidence that was presented shows that 18 parking spaces
plus have been provided, and they have met the condition that was given to them. That's why I support removing that
condition. Thank you. And special thanks for everybody from the community who came out tonight, because you you folks are eyewitnesses to what
happens most minutes of most days down there. And you hear the the input from your customers and those that, you know, a long time in the
community. I have to say, I agree that it's not coach's responsibility to solve the city's problem. However, as Mr. Trapani brought up, there's plans for growth in downtown,
and that's wanted and it's warranted. But you need to plan for that. Dunedin just approved a large parking garage, Clearwater even though they're
building their brains out down there, they are providing parking facilities. Even though they took quite a bit away. The condition for coach was, as
somebody mentioned, a safety valve just in case the worst possible thing could happen. But I have to say that between the C, R a and the newly formed
downtown district and stuff some sort of parking study, coalition of residents, business owners, municipal officials and such is is
definitely needed. And just equally as well, we in the planning and zoning Department have been talking about amending the special transect
districts. And one of those current provisions are that you don't need additional parking spaces when there's a change of use or, or things like that.
And that that may not be really the best thing in today's world. So the fact that the two hour parking limit, which the city put and the library parking is
not enforced, that's a problem. And that's something that can be addressed by the police department and such. And I don't know of anybody who has ever been towed from the library and perhaps the library,
with the exception of them having special events, could partition off that one area to the the south east of the lot
to say this is business parking. When there's no special. And they could plaster up a sign. If there is a special event so that there are. There are ways to make it a little better, a
little faster, and also public information to get out to people where they can park. Because like I said, it's human nature to be right in front of whatever. Mr. fracas has a
special condition there for the clientele that he's services, obviously, and getting a couple of handicapped spots dedicated adjacent to his business is something that the city could
facilitate too. So there are things that we can push for going forward. And I'll leave it up to the to the planning and zoning staff and the attorney, whether we can
analyze any of these things in what we're doing here tonight. But I think we all need to be a little more vocal and proactive to the city board to say, this
is not a want, this is a need. And we want the growth that's going to come with it. So we have to prepare for that proactively rather than
reactively. So I, I tend to agree that it's not Koch's problem per se. And they did what they could at the time in agreement and have worked very
cooperatively with the city and with their downtown neighbors. So I think we we need to put the weight on the city, whether it's the departments or the
commission, to start this ball rolling sooner rather than later. Thank you. Do any other
board members have any additional comments? Okay, so I have a one. At the beginning of
the meetings, the council usually lays out how quasi judicial rules and it says, hey, based on the facts, we'll make a decision. It's fancier than
that, but that's more or less what it says. So there's some different opinion on on some certain things, but I'll just
repeat what I think are the facts, which is co hatch willingly accepted number seven
as part of the site plan agreement and said we shall, because of the additional footage that we build and we're taking advantage of, we shall
provide 18 additional spaces. There was a caveat to that. That said, we shall do that until a certain magic thing
happens. It didn't say, we shall do that, and then we can get out of it at a later date when it's convenient. It said, we shall provide. Pardon me
until it's not a discussion. Pardon me. We shall provide 18 additional spaces. I would politely disagree that the city has provided any resolution
whatsoever, and I will repeat that. I think that the data was presented is flawed and disingenuous. It's my opinion that the Kohat should continue to meet its agreement to
provide 18 additional spaces, whether they're people or parking there or not. And that
this board would set a improper precedent by allowing. The applicant to revise and get
back on what it agreed to do. And then if this situation is what helps the Board of Commissioners and the rest of the community address this
problem, so be it. But the facts say they agreed to provide those spaces, and they should provide those spaces.
And that's my comment position on that. Okay. If I could just go ahead one more additional for something I amended and I apologize. I just want to say that there's been reference
made to flawed data and flawed presentation by the city staff, and I'm not here to judge that one way or the other. I really want to point out that what we
see on a map, what we see on paper, even if it has numbers involved with it, often does not translate into the field here. It's the same thing with
building plans and site plans and things like that. Ideally, it should work like like a clock. It often doesn't, but that is not the fault of the staff. Sometimes that's the
fault of the usage, the direction, the infrastructure and such. So I just want to make that distinction that what we see on the map may actually have those numbers. But just as
coaches spaces are those numbers used to their potential. Is there some facilitation to direct people there as, as they said, that there is additional
signage provided, but you know how many people look at signs when they're looking for spaces? They're looking for a vacant piece of land. That's an excellent point. That being
said, within the data, the dates were 2018 to 2025. Coach didn't start application until 2023. So there then therefore, if we wanted to get down to
brass tacks, the only parking data that should be allowed is anything post agreement, not anything that started before.
No plans that we were thinking of only. So this is really easy. Have 18 new parking spaces been created or any new parking
spaces been created. Post codes. Well, we aren't creating any new land and the answer is no. There have not been. There's been a shell game of what we're
calling them and how we're using them. And it appears to me that there seems to be some bias by certain board members
who use coach. Excuse me, I just said it out loud. It appears to me that there seems to be some personal bias. Pro
coach by board member that admitted that they have taken advantage of coach services. And so I would probably ask
politely that you recuse yourself from voting. I'm going to decline that. Okay. I just politely asked, and you can
decline. Any more board comments before we vote. So we have a motion. We have a second. Would anyone like to make any
more comment? We want an adjustment on that motion. No, chairman. Roll call please.
Miss. Excuse me, miss Wade. Yes, Mr. Morris. Yes. Mr. Collins. Yes, miss. Early. Yes. Mr.
Rocklin. Yes. Vice chair. Vessey. No. Motion passes. If I may, I'd like to request a five
minute break. We'll reconvene. And at 53.
556 to call the. Planning and Zoning Board meeting of June 15th. Back to order. Thank you for the break.
I've lost my screen. And so we have our second item agenda item. And we'll start with staff presentation. Okay. Thank
you. The second item is a site plan approval for Mango Street Townhomes. This is located on
the south side of Mango Street, just east of Distant Avenue. This is resolution 2020 623. It's on just about four and a
half acres of property that will include .83 acres of right of way to be vacated. This
involves vacation, partial vacation of a plot along with including the rights of way in that area. This is in a
residential urban future land use category. Residential multi family zoning district. This is again a 32 unit townhome community with infrastructure,
facilities and open space amenities. And the applicant agent, Matt Silverman is here with us this evening. And this
comes to us from HP capital Group. This is the location again, Mango Street, Years Boulevard, of course, becoming Mango Street to the east.
That's at the southeast corner. And it's basically opposite the dead end of South Disston Avenue. Here's an oblique
aerial of the site. You have. This area, the. The wooded area is basically the site to the east is the Eagle Ridge apartment community. That's the
housing authorities apartment community that replaced Mango Circle a few years ago. To the west, you have the yard waste facility and the Duke Energy
corridor there. And then we have a mix of housing in this area, single family apartments,
mobile homes. So this will add. A attached single family product to this area. This is
the zoning and land use. Again the land use is residential, urban inside the blue outline. And this will add a new housing
product to this area. We have the mobile home parks, multifamily apartments, and again the yard waste facility
to the west. This shows the ownership of the property. So on the left hand side that's looking north, that's Mango
Street on the left hand side. And in the green shading is the property that the applicant owns and is involved in this
application. And the kind of yellow orange color is the right of way that will be vacated to accommodate this development. So all of those
platted lots you see highlighted will be basically, plus the right of way will become one parcel. We have
single family residences and you can see those here in the oblique area that are west of the project. Those are
separated from the project by an alley that will not be vacated. That's a ten foot alley that's unimproved and would. And then you have some
additional vacant lots. Distant Avenue basically ends with the last single family residence there. It is not extended to the south. So we have some
vacant lots to the south of that. This is the site plan. Just want to point out a few things. Basically you've got
and single road and all the facilities with this project are going to be private. It's not going to be a gated community, but it will be
completely private. Now on this picture, North is on the right hand side. So not to be too confusing, some mango street
there is to your right. That's the entrance road. Going into the community. We have five buildings totaling 32 townhomes.
They are providing a half acre open space, kind of mini park facility and of course, stormwater handling. They have
proposed an alternative plan for their sidewalk, which is to suspend sidewalk here adjacent to Eagle Ridge, where there are
no townhomes, and then provide a crosswalk. Between the north and south sides of the road.
And then there is a property, this lot 16, that is owned by the housing authority. So that that is not involved in this
project. But when Stackelberg Avenue is vacated, they will get half of that vacate, which is 15ft. So that's represented here. I will say there's
probably a foot, maybe a foot and a half or so. This line is off a little bit, and the applicant will need to shift that north just a little bit to
make sure that vacated portion is not encroached on. I think the sidewalk there encroaches on it a little bit. So he's aware of that. That will have
to be done before this vacation is heard. And the site plan is approved. The applicant is also
providing reservation of 17.5ft at the front, north side of the project to accommodate future widening of Mango Street. Your
comprehensive plan calls for an 80 foot right of way for Mango Street. Whether that ever happens is is up for question,
but your comprehensive plan does have it in future right of way needs. So within the planning horizon we must plan
for it. So the applicant is providing that the setbacks are measured from the reservation, not from the front property line. And they will provide the
sidewalk on Mango Street next to the street. At this point, as required by code. This is just an illustration of the
open space. So this this shows where the open space park is. And this is kind of an interesting area. Lake Butler Heights was platted in 1911 and
they really meant heights. There's a couple of spots here that are 30ft, 30 foot elevation or close to it. So the applicant will be lowering
the area developed for the townhomes and infrastructure and leaving the open space park. And this kind of shows that at
the current elevation, and that will enable them to preserve some trees. They're also going to put a block wall, of course,
to retain that elevated area. So that will buffer help to buffer those homes to the west a little bit. They won't have
lights, you know, vehicle lights shining over there. This is guest parking that they're proposing next to the park, and
it will provide a natural high topographic area where the community members can enjoy the open space. They did provide a
narrative telling the different options that they might have for use of that open space as a mini park. Of course, that'll
be maintained by the homeowners association. This is just, you know, showing the elevation and
floor plans, the elevation here on the lower left corner is the Mango Street elevation, showing that it won't be just a solid,
solid wall on Mango Street. So the proposal does comply with the multifamily residential zoning district and the Land Development Code, with the
exception of that perimeter sidewalk. We feel like that is the applicant is asking for a waiver for that, which you can
do as part of that preliminary plat. It's a 32 unit community, pretty low, low level density
with just the one street. It's not a through street. So staff feels that the waiver can be supported. This also complies
with the comprehensive plan as consistent with the residential, residential, Urban Future land use category and the intent.
And it provides good a good infill product. And these are market rate townhomes in this area. It complies with the city's concurrency management
system for utilities, solid waste disposal, stormwater and transportation. The park
facilities are not subject to concurrency. We are deficient in many parks, so the applicant providing really more than
enough many park. I think it comes out to senior staff report 300 some square feet per person for that development.
Does assist the city with with not exacerbating that deficiency. The city's level of service requirement is about
3535ft■!S per person. Many park, so that helps. And then the project is expected to comply with the building codes, fire
codes and flood codes. I will say too, that this project will meet our coastal high hazard criteria requiring the elevation of the finished floor
above more than three feet above the flood elevation. This is mostly not in a flood zone. There is some area that's in a
zone, and they'll be about 6 or 7ft above that 500 year flood elevation with their finished floors. So they more than meet
that. So staff is recommending approval of the proposed site plan, subject to the waiver of
the sidewalk in favor of the plan shown in the packet. And eight conditions. First is the project will be master metered.
The second is that the project meet all requirements for tree planting and mitigation. They haven't quite finished calculating that mitigation, so they'll need to do that for the
building permit. The project is subject to public art provision. I did mention the housing authority law. When this is
vacated. One of the things that's prohibited is vacating right of way. If it provides
the sole means of access to a lot, technically, this lot has access from the alley off mango,
so it does meet the vacate standards. But we also wanted to add the condition that the applicant not deny access from
the subdivision roadway. That way there's a some flexibility and, you know, a little bit
more. Access options for them. I mean, for something, for example, there's a fire, you know, obviously fire has access
regardless, but just having that, that access to be able to be taken off that roadway since it will be private, you want to make sure that could happen.
And I don't know, you might ask me, but I have we don't have any information on the housing authority, some plan for that
lot at all. We haven't. They were notified. I'm sorry. The the Tarpon Springs Housing
Authority owns this lot. 16 here. So that's why they're getting that right of right of way. Half of it we don't have we don't have any information.
They did receive notification of the proposed vacate. We haven't heard from them on that construction plans to be
consistent with the site plan. And then the developer must meet the minimum criteria of the Land Development Code. The site plan will expire in six
months, unless a building permit or construction permit has been obtained, and then they will have to come in for final plat. And there's a couple of notes here regarding
the notes that we're looking for on the plan. The packet also has a copy of the homeowners association declarations that are proposed.
All that will be finalized at Final Plan. Are there any
questions? Questions for staff starting. All right. Any
questions for staff? No. No. Mr. Question for staff. All the way down at the left. Thank you. Great presentation. Pat. Three
questions. As I was studying this before coming in site plan. Predicated upon approval of the vacation of right of way. Could the housing authority block
this from moving forward? If they do not give permission, they don't need direct permission from the Housing Authority. The housing
authority has been notified. They can certainly comment on the proposed vacation. And the Board of Commissioners would take consider their public
comments, and the Board of Commissioners would make a decision. Okay. I believe page
four of the application report says owned by the city. When. So is that not correct that the housing development is Tarpon
Springs? Or the housing authority? The Tarpon Springs Housing Authority is not Tarpon Springs City, though. It's not. No, it's it's own. Got it. And
that's its authority, you know, registered with the state just like any authority in the state. Okay. Thank you. It's own
entity. The sidewalk waiver. I was trying to understand that and how it's supposed to go around the entire exterior area
of the property. But where are we? Where's this sidewalk going to go in, and how does it meet the criteria? So looking at
this site plan exhibit, it would go in along the entire perimeter around the cul de sac. And then on the east side,
there would be kind of a hiatus in the sidewalk. There would not be here. Aren't any homes here. And then it would pick back up in front of these
townhomes and go back to Mango Street. There's a sidewalk on Mango Street. There is a crosswalk proposed here to cross the street. And to tell
you the truth, I, I would guess because of the open space park, depending on where they put steps up to the open space park, people are going to cross the
street, you know, almost anywhere. But but they do have a marked crosswalk shown here.
So the idea was to. That that portion of sidewalk wasn't necessarily free. I mean, you know, that's impervious, but it's, it's certainly the code
technically requires a perimeter sidewalk along the street. Okay. Yeah. But but that that can be waived. So that's the question is whether
that would be allowed to be waived. And then moving on to
the geotechnical report. Pull this up real quick. My note said unanticipated soil
condition may require removal. Can you speak on that? I'm trying to I'll try to find the
page number. I think they always say that. Yes. So I didn't read it. But yeah, if they were to find. So this
property has been cleared in the past as you can kind of see on the aerial. There is some has been obviously some dumping
on the property in the past. I haven't heard an applicant may be able to speak to this, that there are any past uses or that there have been. This was
platted in 1911 and never developed. So these streets rights of way unimproved have been there the whole time, so I doubt there have been previous
uses on the property. But like I say, if the applicant had any title information that would be a thing. But but that
statement's usually there a lot of times because if we have some buried debris that is not suitable for building a structure on, they would have
to remove that and replace it with okay, correct soil. Now they are going to be lowering the site quite a bit or and the
applicant, again, the engineer can maybe answer some of those questions. No, thank you for that. And finally, the hurricane shelter space impact,
the report that was given was June 26th, 2024. This being two years after that. Does this
change the hurricane impact? Based on this new data of 32 units, the applicant did do the analysis based on the 2024
shelter analysis they applied in 2024. And that is the latest report we have from Pinellas County. I've been trying to see
if there is a later shelter capacity analysis. I've not been able to obtain one yet. So that is the latest data that we
have and that the applicant was provided to do the analysis. Okay. And based on all your findings within that, everything is up to standard.
Yes. Okay. Sufficient capacity to house those that would evacuate to within county to a shelter. Awesome. Thanks, Pat.
Appreciate it. Questions for staff. Thanks again Pat, I appreciate that presentation. I just had a quick question on
the flood drainage. Is that going to adversely affect anyone? I'm not sure if it's been looked at. I'm sure it is in there, but I just want to double check anybody to the
south on Park View Boulevard. I noticed the way that the X 500 floodplain goes. It's kind of angled towards Park View, and this plan I see stormwater
handling up there. I just want to make sure it's not going to go due south, right into those people's houses to the south. Has that been looked at? Yes,
we we have a fairly stringent stormwater handling code. The applicant can maybe provide a summary or some details of, of, of the system, but they must
retain all of their stormwater on site and handle that stormwater on site. Okay. And there's going to be no future plans that we know of, of any
kind of westerly entrance into this community from a distant avenue extension or anything that we know of. No. Okay.
That's it. Thank you. I, I'm sitting here looking at the
discussion about the soil again. I'm sorry, my mic may be off.
We're good. Forgive my voice. There were some terms that I have not heard in my life that
I'm I'm running across in this. The soil determination. Pardon me. And I wonder if you could
sort of give me a bottom line on the state of the soil. It looks like they've done a lot to check it out. They were
obtaining information concerning subsurface conditions. General suitability,
general location, all that good stuff. What is the question? I'm just asking you for a
general summary of the site based on all of this, of all this these studies that were
done in terms of. Sea water level, I mean, what what is this property? Where is it on on that count? What zone are
they in? What type of soil is? I mean, I think what the question was, was asked is maybe relating to is all this soil going to be removed and
replaced? AM I reading that in here? Do you recall? I'm not sure. I'd rather have the applicant answer that. You're getting into some technical
engineering and he would be more appropriate to answer that. I'm sorry. Thank you. That's
okay. I didn't have any other questions. Okay. I wasn't sure if that was done yet, but you
know, a nice quiet is is okay. Okay. I have a couple, but I want to make sure everybody else has asked all the questions they want. A
gentleman mentioned distant Avenue to the west, and I was looking at the survey and this particular element. And there was one aerial photo that
showed the property with the red line around it. It's a good one. Yeah. That's perfect. Okay, so your photo is better than the one that I'm looking at because the one that I was looking at hadn't been
completed yet. And mango just kind of terminated. And maybe that one shows Meredith better. Okay, so hypothetical And the
question will make sense. If the city of Tarpon Springs chose to make distinct, continuous as it should be.
Would that expansion of distance distant? Would it affect any decisions being made today about the site plan, such
as the reservation of 17ft on mango? No. The applicant owns
one lot on distant. But it is not well on that west side. The just distant right of way stops. It doesn't. It was. It doesn't
exist. It's a complicated history. We've looked at this multiple times. They own one lot on the west side. I can show you where that is. This is
the west side. They own this lot. Just. Just an avenue ends right before the lot they own. That lot is not involved in
this project. So this project is completely independent of anything going on over in this area. Okay. And I know you
answered, but I'm going to ask again for the future because I just feel that we're at a no go back zone if this were to be developed. So you say that
distant right of way ends at the end of those lots, but distant was obviously platted all the way through to Klosterman. It was okay. And
that it makes perfect common sense for anybody that's lived here for any period of time and driven those roads that that road should be contiguous at some point. In fact, all we
have to do is wait for a hurricane to go, realize that we only have two avenues north and south, one being alternate 19 plugged, 19 plugged. Why isn't distant going all the way through? So as a planning board
and a planning person, I would think we should be very, very cautious about doing anything that may hinder the eventual
future continuation of distant through to Klosterman. And I'm trying to read the maps, and I'm not an expert, but can you
as a professional, see anything that we would look back on and go, coulda, woulda, shoulda, now we can't do what the
community needs because we didn't plan appropriately back in 2026. No, I don't, I don't
see. Anything that that this project would affect as far as the future extension of distant. And in. Patricia McNeese, I trust that with levity, but
that's. I just had to ask just to make sure I didn't see it either. But I wanted to ask that anything with that stormwater, you know, they,
they do have some frontage along distant and along mango, we are reserving 17ft right of
way for future expansion. Yes. Thought process here. So if we were to extend distant and add sidewalks and a bike lane and
do all the things that were appropriate, are we giving away something now that we wish we hadn't given away? Yes. So the
Mango Street, right. Oh, widening is adopted in year 2045 comprehensive plan. That's why they have to reserve that
right of way. The distant avenue is not. And. That's you know that's a great point. So
if distant avenue were to be made continuous, could you see any reason that some right of way or easement needs to be
recommended or taken into account now, so that as a planning agency, the local planning agency we're seeing into the future and making good decisions for our community?
Yeah, I, I'm not sure what the basis would be. I'm not sure what what we would use. So there is it's no longer a right
of way. The bigger the bigger issue is the Duke Energy corridor. Further to the west. And that that would really be
the issue regardless of of, you know, any contribution from the the applicant, I think I don't know. In other words, I don't think it could be overcome by
some contribution from the applicant, and I don't know what the basis would be for that or the basis for any
amount for a contribution. I think that that corridor, if it if we do, it has got to be
resolved based on on the area that's there. We had a preliminary study of that extension. You may remember that's what the analysis was based on. It wasn't didn't
really identify the need for anybody to give up right of way, whether it's built property or vacant. That is a great answer.
And thank you for your patience as I do that. I do have one more question. With the vacation of the right of way,
is the city giving away any public property? The. The one lot notwithstanding. So the vacation of the right of way is simply. We're just allowing
them to build what might have been planted as a road, but we're not actually contributing any city property to the applicant or the owners. We are
not contributing city owned property. The right of way is public property. The applicant does have to pay a vacation fee
equal to half for half the right of way, equal to the appraised value. So they do have to pay a fee to vacate
that right of way. Which they have deposited in anticipation of if it's approved, then we'll have the fee. If it's not
approved, then it will be refunded. Okay. Yeah, I'm going to just I need to drill into this a little bit more. So the answer is yes, that there is a
vacation of right. Not actual ownership of property. And and why only half? That's what the code requires. I think it's mostly based on the fact that,
you know, 90% of the vacation we run, the request is made by a property owner, and the property across the street is usually another owner. In this
case, you've got one that's another owner. And so they get free, you know, right of way. Whereas the requester pays for
their half. That's the way the code is been for a long time. And that's the way it's written. So the only that's the city's own code code and ordinances.
That's the ordinance of the city of Tarpon Springs that we have half we gave away a, a road a few years ago. Right. Okay. Next to it was. Yeah. To your point, that code was
suspended, was changed a few years ago, but it was reinstated, right? Yeah. Because we're giving away roads for free when they were asked for. Yeah. Okay. Do you know
what that value is? Ballpark. Somewhere around 32,000. So $32,000 and they get all that land. Okay. Well, all the
housing authority, 15ft in the front of their line. I see that one more question. You go there is that this applicant went
through five TRC applications. Yeah. What was the housing authority part of of one of those applications. I know they're an independent body. So the housing authority they've
got that one lot. Did they eventually they're like, hey, we're good with this. We support this. We're going to give away 15ft. No, the housing
authority has not participated. I believe the applicant again, can say I believe they they really tried to approach the housing authority about buying
that parcel. He he can speak to that. I don't believe they got any response. Okay. But I'd like to confirm that. Okay.
That's all. Thank you very much. Any additional questions for staff? Go ahead. Well, actually my question is Pat, and, you know, you may know the answers
to this, but I thought maybe we could engage our our counsel. To explain, to explain the nature of right of way in terms of legally, in terms of
property law, who owns the right of way, if anyone, and who has access to it, who, who has a stake in that right of way? If I have a right of way,
I assume I can start at a certain point and keep going, but not if somebody owns it, cuts it off. This this
particular plat is the. The streets were dedicated to the public so that these were public roads. So yeah, it's
owned by the public of Tarpon Springs technically. And maybe you're just like any road in the city. If you go on appraiser, just to kind of give
you a context, if you click on a road, 90% of the time, there won't be a parcel that comes up because it's public, dedicated in most plants, right of way.
Now, this particular plant will have a private road that that will be owned by the homeowner's association and maintained by them. On the
right of way. Their road will be private and example might be point Alexis. They have a private road. They maintain,
you know that they can control ingress and egress. But yeah, I don't know if you need anything further from the attorney on
that, but my, my other quick question was. In the geotechnical report, it, it indicates that the scope of
their services, whoever did the report did not include an environmental assessment for determining the presence or absence of wetlands or hazardous toxic materials in
the soil, bedrock, groundwater or air on or above or around this site. No, we don't we
don't require an environmental audit, which sometimes we ask for one. So phase one audit, not required for every
application, staff and past staff has extensively walked the site. It's at anywhere from 25 to 30 foot elevation. There
are no wetlands on the site. If they were to run into some issues as far as some kind of environmental hazard or or past
evidence of some past dumping, for example, then they would they would need to deal with that. You know, in the course
of getting your building permit and remediating for that, I guess I'm kind of concerned. The reason I'm asking is, for
example, those apartments that are behind. What was Winn-Dixie back over there? All that all that apartment complex was
built on top of Springs a spring. And I'm wondering if there's any way we can determine whether there is a spring in that area. I wasn't
around when the the apartments were approved, notwithstanding a spring existing in that location. But. I was I saw
photographs of the aftermath. So that's what I'm curious. I mean, we have apartments by the grocery. Yeah. Okay. I think you're talking about the annex
apartments. It used to be called Icaria. This is a different apartment complex. Oh, I know this is a different apartment complex. So we have we have a wildlife report. We
have a geotech. I think if there if there were groundwater or springs present, you know, we have a habitat report. We we
we'd have something identified. I'm not sure what else we need to for curiosity is to. Is
there anything that we have, any mapping of the springs that exist in Tarpon Springs? I'm sure South Florida, southwest
Florida water management probably has records of historic and current springs. Okay, because I, like I said, I wasn't involved in I, I, I
don't have the information. I just know what occurred in the result. I don't know anything in between with the apartment complex I'm referring to. Yeah.
And I, and I will say that project was vested for many years. And that was a big
factor in the development of that project. Okay. Thank you. Any additional questions for staff before we move on to the
applicant's presentation? I have one question. Is reclaimed water available to this project? I can't remember, but I don't think so. Yeah. No, there was a
discussion on that. I believe they'll be using a well for irrigation because of that. But Matt can speak to that. Well
then no more questions for staff. If the applicant wants
to make a presentation please. Excuse me. Evening Matt. Silver 13825 I Court Boulevard, suite
605, Clearwater, Florida. Please don't be mad at me, but could you spell your last name? Sure, silver rain, SYL as in lion, V as in Victor, E as in
Eric, R as in Robert, A as in Apple, I as in India, and N as in Naomi. So silver with a y.
Rain, silver rain one r. Thank you. Easy enough. So, Mr.
Acting Chairman, members of the board, we are requesting the approval of the Mango Street townhome site plan. As Miss Mcniece explained, it's 32
market rate townhome units on about four and a half acres. It is shy of the maximum allowed. The maximum allowable density. The maximum allowable density
is seven and a half units per acre. We're approving. We are proposing 7.1 units per acre. We are also providing ample
open space. We are preserving some trees on the site. Approximately 40 trees on this site. And as also Pat mentioned,
we are dedicating 17.5 acres, 17.5ft fronting the Mango Street for future right of way improvements. All
infrastructures on the site will be privately maintained by a homeowner's association, which minimizes future maintenance obligations to the
city. Well, we're we're providing a master meter up front that will serve all of the residents. So it'll be one
water bill. I really want to highlight the the staff's effort throughout the review process. In particular, Miss Mcniece, we've worked lockstep
to get this over the finish line, and I humbly ask for your approval. I know we have a few questions. I try to take as
best notes as possible. I want to get through some of your questions. I'll start with Mr. Morris. So that's a standard
note. Yes. So, you know, as the gentleman said, buried treasure. Sometimes we find it some some things happen. We find debris or unsuitable soils, organics.
And those have to be removed as part of the construction process. Mr. Morris, we went
through a very stringent stormwater review. My recollection of the site is in a volume sensitive area, and as
part of our study, we had to prove that we did not discharge more volume of stormwater than previously before it was
developed. And also, we don't discharge at a higher rate. So we don't discharge as fast and we don't discharge as as much
either. Miss early. Also, to answer your question on Geotech, the majority of the site is going to be shaved down, so we
are going to remove some soil and truck it off the site. And the site's soils are sandy soils, the good soils. We haven't found any aggressive
soils as well. And I also wanted to bring up that the the owners electively performed a phase 1SA, which is a
preliminary environmental study to research the site and make sure, you know, it wasn't a brown site and that there weren't any issues that we, you know, we could get ahead of.
Because if something does arise in the middle of construction, you know, we'd have to rectify it. So we did our due diligence to make sure that, to our knowledge, there are no
environmental soil issues on the site. And miss Wade, to our knowledge, there is no reclaimed water available. And we will apply for what's called
a water utility permit with the Water Management district in order to construct a well and to irrigate the landscape areas. So I'd be happy to answer any
other questions you guys may have. Questions for the
applicant starting at the left. No questions. Thank you. No
questions. Thank you. No questions. Thank you. Going to good news. I'm thrilled with this project and I hope it works out. I have a whole list
of things to talk about with you, but not questions on this project. Thank you. And thank you. I was in attendance at one
of the TRC meetings, so I had a little, little advance knowledge and some questions answered before I. I'm a big fan of the buffer between the existing residential and what
you're going to plant there. I think that makes a big difference. The fact that it's going to be a little a little lower shaved down, like you said, is going to be a big benefit to them, get a little
more breeze and things like that. And if I remember correctly, you're not waving the public art component to be off site. You're going to do something there and it's going
to be on that retaining wall so that it's visible to people going up and down the street and guest parking and things like that. That is that is correct. That is correct. We
are doing some research. We're talking to different people trying to put a presentation together. And then my understanding is we then have to present that to an arts
board. So we're working towards that. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Silver. And I actually told a fib. I said I didn't have any questions and I do.
Would that be the will of the board? Okay. Will you be planning on selling these on the open market or privately
with your own staff? To my knowledge. The the owners or developing this site for a home builder. So they will sell the
site to the home builder and the home builders will, they'll sell the homes to private owners. Okay, to my knowledge, that's very likely that they'll be on the open market. So I'm.
If it's the board's will to recuse myself, I am a realtor locally. I'll put that out there. I don't know if that's going to be an issue, but I may end up selling some of these.
We don't know. I don't know if you feel it's an issue and recuse yourself from the vote. That's perfectly. I don't think it'll affect my bias at all, but just want to be open with
it. Thank you, Mr. Silver. Appreciate it. Thank you. On that issue, did they consider doing any. Subsidized units at
all? As of now, that is not the plan. Their plan to be market rate units. It said that over
and over market rate. Do you plan to gain any additional questions for the applicant? No.
So I have I have one it's just kind of a detail element. And actually staff might weigh in after I ask you, is the the term master meters been dropped
a few times? The idea hey, there's only one water bill, which strikes me as a little bit odd considering that they're townhomes and they're going to be sold individually. And that creates some
downstream challenges for whomever the HOA is handling. That particular element. Was the master metering your suggestion, or was that a requirement of the city's
requirement of the city? And that's typical. I found in newer development, even townhome developments, what happens is a and this is what's
typically typically happens. I'm not saying that's what's going to happen in this case. And typically what happens is it's included in the HOA
monthly bill. And that covers water, sewer and trash, you know, trash pickup in some places. I think in this place it will be public. But what
happens is the HOA gets together and they kind of take a guess at how much everybody's going to spend. And then they put it on the bill and so on
and so forth. Or the other way that's done, it's done. And it's not quite as often is the there's one meter and then from
there sub metered and it's, you know, parceled off to, to the different owners. But the HOA is responsible for doing that because when you have a ton of
meters, it's, it's puts a little bit more stress on city staff. So it's a master meter does the trick. So it's only one meter to read. So it's
easier on the on city staff. And it's typically it's a staff requirement. That's a really good answer. And that takes the pressure off Pat for answering
as to why it was required. Because it's better for the city, less meters. One bummer for the HOA to solve that challenge. That was my only question. Any follow up
questions? Anybody else? Yeah, I have one more. Speaking of that trash, where is the trash on your site plan? So there's no dumpster that's going to be
trash roll out. I was surprised about that. So every unit is going to have their own. Yes. Okay. No further questions. I
do, I'm sorry. Okay. Real quick. Yeah. You. But I got one that is directly applies to the last question. Mine too. Okay. You
go first. What the nature of these villas attached villas is that they are townhouses. Townhouses. Now, is each
individual going to own their townhouse roof walls? So, yes, roofs. I think that's under the
HOA typically as well. It depends on how the documents are written. And I can say that from experience because I've lived in a townhouse and you know, when they had to repair the roofs, we had one special
assessment. So we were it wasn't on us to repair the roofs, but it depends on how the docs are written. Well, that's why. Well, the reason I'm asking is I happen to live
in, in a community where even though they're attached villas, each person is the sole owner of their and have to take care of their own roofs and everything else. So it's a
little different. So I wondered if this was going to be or not, or from what you're saying, if the roofs are involved with HOA, then it's not going to be what I'm talking about. It'll be
just a normal HOA kind of thing. Correct. Okay. That's what's typical. Thank you. Thank you. Right, right. If I may, I wanted to follow up on the question. I'm going to want to
continue to drill into the master metering. And then the gentleman's question about trash. So as I understand the city of Tarpon Springs, because
I read my bill, it's not an a la carte service. And the city of Tarpon Springs, if you're in the community, you get a bill that includes your water, sewer,
trash and recycle. As proposed. That cuts against that grain. It's juxtaposed against it where we would have somehow the city is going to master meter the water and the sewer fine,
but yet individual trash collection for each of the homeowners. So that kind of undoes the simplicity of the city of Tarpon Springs. And
staff can weigh in, but it doesn't take much. As someone that lives in an HOA, right, or someone that's lived in a townhome is that it's you're either all in or all out, one
or the other. And I'm not suggesting what the answer is, but I can tell that right out of the gate that I, unless I'm mistaken, that the city doesn't
send out just a trash bill and then send our contracted trash company to go down. So I think, Pat, do you have a comment about how that's going to be addressed? Well, you know, one
of the things about this, because it's a private road, that's what that's a big factor that prompts utilities
department to master meter it. So they will get a bill. Everybody, each townhome will have a tote just like any homeowner, and they'll be able
to bill for 32 totes. Plus, you know, anything generated by the HOA itself. If they're picking something up for the the park
or they don't really have a pool or any of that kind of stuff, no community building. So they'll just bill for 32. I mean, so the city will do that.
The city will set up in our in our Whomever's contract. It will roll down the road, pick up their trash and recycle, and their bill will only include the trash portion and not the
water. No, I'm sorry, I meant to say, when they bill the master meter, it'll have a bill for 32. Oh, so it'll get the trash bill to. Know. They'll
assess for. That is my understanding. Okay, so if I'm wrong, that answers the question. So it's a one size fit. Things will happen. That's
my understanding. I may be wrong. I'm not utilities, but yeah, one of the two things will happen. But they are getting towed service. Okay.
Additional questions. Sure. Mr. Silver, just depending on the esthetics of a community, has a lot to do with the management of the HOA. Are you guys planning in-house HOA or using
a management company? Obviously, I just needed I know this is in the early stages, but I just want to see when we get if and when we get these beautiful
structures. Sure, there's going to be one that doesn't do something. There's going to be one that doesn't maintain it. And past developments like this
that I have worked on. So not necessarily this one. It's professional management. Okay, so there's a professional management company that manages
the HOA. They are board members that are live at the HOA, but they have a professional management company and that management company then contracts out the pond
maintenance, the landscapers that are common areas are if you know, if they have to get, they're going to build a playground and they have to get some bids. They do that kind of
work, right. And they'll also take a hand in enforcement. Correct? Correct. Yes. But typically for HOA, there's no shortage of volunteers for
telling your neighbors. So there isn't. Thank you. Thank you. Any additional questions?
Thank you for your presentation. Sure. If you have any questions, please let me know. Thank you sir. Thank you. Appreciate you
guys. So that's the end of the. Actually staff gets a chance to make any comments on the applicants. No comments. Super.
And is the moment for public comment. Name and address please. Lack is 514 Ashland
Avenue. There were a lot of interesting questions but not enough digging. All right.
There is a wildlife report, but it's from July of 2024. And as far as the geotechnical, can we go back to a picture where it
shows the actual property, the one one more? No, there. Look at the site. It's all wooded,
900 trees on that property. I don't know if any of y'all walked down by there, but it's heavily wooded and as it's been stated, it's high elevation. So
to be honest with you, as far as the hurricane, if anything, people will probably go there because it's higher than other places in Tarpon, 900 trees are
taken out, only 40 being left. Now you brought up a point about the geotechnical. Now, it's hard for me to read this because I got a small screen.
Excuse me. Prior to construction location of any existing underground utilities, blah blah blah. Any material stockpile for reuse can be tested for conformance for
later use. Relocate any existing utilities and such as is recommended as a minimum that the clearing operation extend to the depth needed to remove the material considered
deleterious at least five feet beyond the proposed development area. Here's the important part. Deleterious materials to be removed include roots, organics,
tree stumps or other buried or under surface or on surface debris. You got 900 trees. You're taking out 860. You're
going to have a lot of roots and stumps. And then they want if you look at the elevations, everything is straight. So they're going to have to level that land, either bringing that
30ft down to 15 and the 15 up to 25, I don't know, I didn't see any of those elevations. But you're going to have serious issues of fill and that
stuff. Now it also goes on foundation recommendations on page. Let's see here. It's hard for me to read page ten under
just before construction consideration, the proposed floor slabs may be may be safely supported as a slab on grade, provided any deleterious materials are removed or
replaced with controlled structural fill. And it talks a lot about fill. You got to have compacting 95% water degraded. And I'm not even getting into
the pavement stuff where it says, you got to have six inches of base, heavily traveled, eight, eight, eight, eight inches of base, you're
going to be doing a major, major, major environmental change in this area. Now, can we go back to page seven? Go up
where it's the one with the site plan or one more. One more there. No, go back to the previous one. Sorry. Now, Mr.
Vesey's question about vacations and distant. I've been talking about opening up distance since 2002, and Doctor
Diamandis, who came up here even before me about wanting to open up mirrors and distant. Now, Burke, that little straight up and down thing, that's. Burke if you look on it,
that is being asked to vacate. Well, if you open up distant you could have that place has as a secondary access. You talk about wanting to have access
the way their site is designed. You got a cul de sac and one out you. This can be an opportunity for a private partnership on those. Where
Burke comes down to distant. Yeah, it's maybe about 200ft. There's four lots, two of those lots. Lots 20 and 18 are owned
by the city. They own 17 and 19 is owned by the Rodriguezes. There's a private one in there in between. Perfect time to have a private partnership to
open up that and have them contribute toward opening up distant. You've got to consider opening up distant. Yeah, you can put this project in and it won't affect distant, but
you'll have a cul de sac and a dead end in their project. One last thing about the in the general Preparations site site
should be cleared. Primarily includes removing any deleterious. Removing. Following the clearing operations, the entire site should be proof rolled. Then
you got to. Vibratory rollers should not be used within 50ft of existing structures. Area within 50ft. You're going to have complaints from the people behind there when they're doing
that rolling. That doesn't just affect this area. It vibrates. Lastly, about the ladies questions about springs, I
don't know if many I'll know it further down south on Disston before you get to Klosterman on the west side in the easement, the Duke Easement city has a
well there. Do you know that city has a well there? So there is water action in there because they did fill in the pond by a carrier, which also
is spring fed. And if you look along the trail that's full of water, there is water, groundwater there. You're going to be doing a lot of disrupting. I don't disagree that this
property can be used to provide housing. As the gentleman said, it's going to be market rate. But then the Mr. Morris, I believe, asked, well, who's going to do it? And if you read
in the backup Dr. Horton's affiliated. But if you read about Lakewood Ranch and some of these other Babcock ranches, they'll go in, they'll do the site prep, and then they sell
the lots off D.R. Horton or Lennar or Dream Homes. So are you going to really have any consistency, or is D.R. Horton going to do the whole project? Sounds like they're just going
to do the site work and then sell the lots off. There's a lot of stuff that's not being fully investigated, and I know I've been on this board before.
You don't get your backup till what? What when did it come out? June 8th, 10th, whatever a week. And y'all are busy. You don't have a chance to relent. So I'm
just here to let you know there's a lot of things you got to be cautious about, but you can. And if you go to the next screen where it shows the site
plan, yeah, that one. So yeah, the housing authority opens up. But if you looked at the previous one, why couldn't they just use the roadway that was
already dedicated and just build the sites along that instead of having to create this whole loop and boundaries and this and that. So I don't
know, it just again, you as our planning board have to look out for what we and our comprehensive plan and what we want in our city as versus,
again, companies coming from outside taking advantage of property available to put in what they want versus what it really would be best to match
with the needs of the community. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your public comment. Is there any additional public
comment? Hearing none. We'll close the public comment portion of our show of the meeting. Would anyone like to
rebuttal and close to the public comment, either the city staff or the applicant? No thanks. No. Okay, then we're
going to close that presentation. And this would be a moment that the board deliberates the evidence criteria, motion seconds, and
the clerk will make a roll call. We're ready for a motion. Well, Mr. Chairman, I would make that motion to approve application 2024-34. Resolution 2026-23 for
approval of the site plan as presented this evening. That would include the staff conditions one through eight. It would also include trading that sidewalk portion for the
crosswalk as a as a recommended. And we have a second. Seconded it. Yep. Miss Wade seconded it. Yes, yes. Oh I'm sorry, did you
want another second? Nope. She just got in real fast. Okay. Did you get down that down there? Okay, super. So we have
a motion to accept as presented. We have a second. The moment for board discussion. Chairman,
I would like to see if we would add some recommendation that nothing would interrupt a disdain connection or maybe
recommendation to connect. A part of this. At least amend the the motion. I just want to I do agree that I think that
road should be connected, and then nothing that we're doing now would prevent it or have to come back for a waiver if
necessary. That, or just ask for a recommendation to connect. That's my opinion. What is proper procedure since we
already have a pending motion? Well, we'll finish the discussion first. Everybody will get a chance to weigh in and we'll kind of discuss that.
So thank you for that thought. Continuing on any board discussion. Appreciate the comments about the wildlife
report. I did read the the tree report, and I noticed that there's actually a substantial amount of biomass being removed. That's invasive as well. So I think it's important to keep a
lot of that into perspective. I see that they're replacing the removing 992in total. They're replacing 202 based on 101
healthy trees at two inch centers. So what I like to do is just make sure that we're not affecting not having an
adverse outcome due to the environmental impact there. I think the project itself is a good one. I think we want to
make sure I the wildlife report again, it was from a while ago, but it reported that no species threatened the species were
were there. That's the facts that we have been given. I would like to see more biomass replaced in the project itself.
I did see that they have some select trees in the report, which is nice. I just want to make sure that we're doing justice to the environmental and aspect of it as well. So
I'm not sure how to recommend that, but maybe we throw in a recommendation for. Maybe 10% more biomass that could be
added and replaced. We're replacing invasive species, which is important as well. So we're taking out the Brazilian pepper trees, the camphors that are in there. We can replace it
with healthier biomass. So just something to consider. Maybe we make a recommendation for some kind of impact, maybe even in
the stormwater handling in that area instead of just a plain field or anything like that. We could give that some
consideration. Those are real thoughtful words, and we can take that into account, Mr.
Turley. I think. I think what some concerning me is the age of the environmental report or
wildlife report in two years, who knows what's there. That's unfortunate. But at the same time, I'm trying to also
remember that. This is sort of a precursor. They're not doing a full we want to do this tomorrow site plan. They're just doing enough. And they can
make legitimate representations to any purchaser. That would be my understanding of the
situation I. Yeah, I, I would express some of the same concerns as. Mr. Collins. I'm
sorry. Do I have it? Collins thank you. Mr. Collins. Brought up and the wildlife, the sidewalks, the future extension
of distant. All those things are important. This, of course, is therefore premature. But I
don't know if it's our I mean. They'll have to come back, I presume, with an updated site plan. So at this point, I guess
my question to the rest of the board members is, is this something preliminary that we are doing? Because if it's not preliminary and it's something
serious that's going to happen. I would have different questions. Okay. Board comments
to the right. I think at this stage she's correct. We just need to approve that. And then we can add a lot of conditions on when it comes to the board,
and there'll be more than one reading and will be chances to say, what is that exterior made out of? What is they can add a
lot of conditions along the way. This is. A very preliminary step in all that. If I
understand the process. But at the same time, I don't want to be remiss. I don't want to not take care of something or not address something, rather, that
should be addressed. So perhaps leadership could direct us in that vein. Okay. Go ahead, Mr. Rockland. Thank you. Yeah. I
appreciate the public comments about the environmental concerns, the wildlife, the trees. It's it's an unfortunate cost of progress. And there are people who don't call it
progress. There are people that do. And there's a lot of us in the middle that try to balance it as was brought up. You know, a lot of the trees are not really trees. We've dealt with Brazilian peppers in our HOA
and at a very high cost and mandated by the city, and it creates barren area. And we then fill that in. And we were commended by the city arborist
and such for, for doing that, exceeding what was required. So I would hope that maybe we could include that condition, that any other areas,
especially around the retention pond and such, be considered for additional plantings, that helps to to mitigate some of
the the impact there. I believe that city staff answered the right of way question. As far as the distant extension, I don't think that you know, and
you can never be 1,000% crystal ball. Crystal ball. Sure. But I don't think that they would need more area from the east
side of that proposal. It would mostly come from the West and Duke. And getting Duke to compromise, of course, is usually arduous, as I found out,
is we have a right of way run through part of our community. And that's that's a bridge that needs to be crossed, in my opinion, sooner rather than
later. As a former first responder and municipal official, that was brought up many, many times to the various commission boards, and the county did a study on it.
Forward Pinellas has it in their their wheelhouse to make recommendations to the county board. And I think we need a multi-pronged approach to make that happen sooner rather than
later. Also, the recommendation by the consultant for the Parks and RECs Committee has a lot of possible plans for the solid
waste site, which would include immense plantings, trees and shrubs and things like that. And whether that's five years down the road or ten years down
the road or I make is, yeah, we lost you. Yeah, well, there is hope for the future. As far as all those things go, it's just
a commitment. So I think that I'd be willing to amend my motion to include a galvanizing of the right of way for distant
extension possibility, and also put a condition in that the applicant explore any other areas that additional trees,
hardwood trees can be planted. So that's why I would add that to the staff conditions sidewalk for the crosswalk. And now include the considerate,
the great consideration of additional trees and galvanization by the city staff, and maybe county planning at the right of way for a future
distant extension is set in stone. Okay, did everybody hear the last words that Mr. Rocklin was able to get out? Can you hear him up here? Yeah. Okay.
Is it okay if I take a moment and call up to it to have him check that mic? Because we do need to have that on record, because that was a formal motion was about to say, if not, I probably need to repeat it
into maybe her microphone just okay. So okay, so the motion for resolution 2026-23 based on application 2020 434. Can I
interrupt? Sure. Sorry, is that I, I had some comments to make, so maybe you could hold that revision of motion because I want I, I'm going to try to
hope to clarify and pull some strings together. So Miss Mcniece is sometimes in the plan set. When they're provided,
they would include a planting or the, you know, the part that says where all the trees and shrubs are going to go that page, either I can't see it or I can't find it, or it's too
early in the process for that. Could you is there a reason that there is not a the tree. The tree scope. Why is it not
there? Yep. Yeah. Thank you. I just couldn't get it out. Yeah. They are showing the trees to be left in the open space park.
We. I guess technically we could have required a specific landscape plan, but basically the requirement for planting is two trees per townhome lot and
20% of the pond perimeter, stormwater pond. It was just felt that if they put specific spots, those. Those might change. But we could have we could have shown that that was
in your staff report. The the townhome lots probably they're fairly small. So two trees is probably about the maximum for those could plant more on the
perimeter code requirement is 20% of the pond. But there could be a chance to do that or. Okay, okay. That's good. I think this was a good question.
It was good to be brought up. And I and I'm going to follow up on just 1 or 2 more. So. There was not a landscape plan submitted because there wasn't
one asked for, because the concept is that it's so simple that we don't need one. But that drainage pond, as new
board member has said, turns into the we all know this. We've all seen it, right? It's a big pile of dirt, and then it's a big pile of grass. And golly, I think that this might
warrant a landscape plan. And this is going to coattail on the revises. Hey, let's get a landscape plan. Because if we don't ask, we don't get. And we all know this from past
experience. When the tractors get in there, it's horrific. In the beginning. It just is what it is. It's rough. It's going to be a big pile of sand. Okay,
so we will possible request for a true landscape plan that meets or exceeds the minimum requirements. In addition, I
want to go to the other request. This distant thing that is, I'm concerned about. In Miss Mcniece in your magic fingers,
sometimes there are utility easements that are delineated on certain GIS maps. For example, on the single family residences that are right along.
Dustin. Right now, there might be a utility easement along the front. They're normal and typical on the front of a property. Sometimes they're 20ft. Not saying there is or
there isn't. It Makes sense. In the spirit of protecting the future, possible expansion and connection of distant. That whatever utility easement that
is existing on single family residences located at the top right hand corner. And I think that's the northwest corner of the property that we make accommodation now, simply by
requesting an easement, otherwise known as a right of way reservation. No harm, no foul along the entire extension of the property up through and
including the stormwater pond. So that should the city, at some future time, want to do some work there, we're given the right to be able to address that, that that utility
easement or right of way easement, if it's used or not used, that would address that gentleman's concern. A actual
landscape plan would address a couple of concerns. Anybody anybody's concerned not addressed? I don't think so.
Okay. Mr. Rocklin, would you like to revise your motion? Yes. Thank you. Well, I have a working mic. So the motion, as revised, would read for
approval of application 2024-34. Resolution 2026-23 to include staff conditions one through eight. The trading of the sidewalk continuance
requirement for the crosswalk, which is warranted, and that it also include a landscape plan that exceeds by some reasonable
number what is required currently by code, and that there is exploration of whether it's a utility easement or an increased dedicated right of
way along distant, which is the west side of this property that either that that provides for the possibility of the future expansion of distant, should
there not be cooperation from Duke on the other side? Do we have a second? Second.
Excellent. We have a motion. We have a second. Any additional discussion from the board? Hearing none. We're ready for
roll call, please. Miss Wade. Yes. Mr. Morris. Yes. Mr. Collins. Yes. Miss. Early. Yes.
Mr. Rocklin. Yes. Vice chair. Vessey. Yes. Motion carries.
Thank you for all your work. Thank you all. Okay. At this time? Is that the end of our business? Miss Mcniece one
staff comment. Yeah, I lost, I lost that page a while ago. Okay. Staff comments. Just a reminder for anyone who has not
watched the quasi judicial and sunshine training that Attorney Saltzman conducted the video, please go ahead and do that. Sign your affidavit and get
that to the clerk. There are actually two members that they notified me that have not done it yet. So I'm assuming you
know who you are. I sent it back out today. The link, I don't know. Don't look at me.
Okay. Any any board comments? I do have one. I did bring it up before the meeting. I just I was driving by this site plan
on the screen. I noticed that there wasn't any public hearing, public notice signs that were up and I, I found out they blew down in a storm. But I think
it's important that they get put back up because it was two days ago. There was no signs. Drove all the way around it. But I think I do think it's important. We we do let the
public know. And I know postcards went out, but I always read those signs no matter where they are. So that's just my take on that.
Thank you. Kind of a big deal, to be perfectly honest. Well, and people expect that they expect the signs. Yeah. Well, if I had done my job better, I
would have asked if it had been properly public noticed, because that is a critical feature of all the work that we do. And, well, I'm I mean, I was told all postcards went out
to affected areas, but it's something that, you know, I like seeing. Yeah, that's all.
Agreed. Any more board comments? Well, then. 925 adjourned.