City Council - Regular Meeting

I call this meeting to order. Welcome to our council meeting for August 11, 2026. Virtual participation and council meeting are available on your computer or smartphone, via Microsoft Teams or by telephone. You can learn how to participate virtually by visiting our website, www.clemontfl.gov, and search for attend council meeting online. In the interest of time, efficiency, and ensuring everyone who wishes to address the council is given an opportunity to do so, the following will apply to all comments made by the people in person or virtually. Each speaker will be permitted three minutes to address the council. In an effort to be respectful during the meeting, please make sure your cell phones are set to silence. Thank you for participating in your city government. Tonight's invocation will be given by Father Mark Weider from Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church. Please rise and remain standing for the pledge.

If you'd like to bow your heads and pray with me. Loving God, maker and giver of all good things, we give you thanks for those gathered here today, for abundant blessings, for allowing us to be involved in useful work, and for the honor of being able to advocate for our citizens. We pray for all who are experiencing the effects of war, hunger, poverty, and natural disasters. Help us help them. As good citizens, we should obey the proper authorities, since you have established those very authorities to promote peace and order and justice. We pray today for our first responders and all who keep us safe, for our mayor, Tim Murray, and for all our city officials, and for this assembled council. We are asking that you would grant them wisdom, charity, camaraderie, and peace amidst honest disagreement. We pray for the agenda set before them today. Give guidance that they could know what would please you and what would benefit those who live and work in and around our beautiful city of Claremont. In your most blessed name we pray. Amen. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one

indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please be seated. Wow, no presentations, okay. Yay, yay. The next item on the agenda is public comment. If you wish to address the council in person, please come to the microphone and state your name and address. Once in-person comments have concluded, we will move on to virtual comments. If you are participating online, Microsoft Teams, and wish to provide comments, please raise your hand and you will be called on to unmute your microphone when it is your turn to speak. If you are participating by phone, you will press star five on your phone to raise your hand and when called upon, you will press star six to unmute your microphone. for all virtual participants. If you wish to comment on other items on the agenda, please stay on the Microsoft Teams or on your phone and raise your hand when that item comes up on the agenda. This portion of the meeting is only for items that are not on the agenda. In the interest of time, Efficiency and ensuring that everyone who wishes to address the council is given an opportunity to do so. Each speaker will be permitted three minutes to address the council to avoid disruption of the meeting. Speakers should avoid inappropriate language, personal attacks, derogatory statements, and direct all comments to the city council. Everyone is requested to be respectful, even when we disagree. Yes, sir.

I am farmer Banks Helfrich. I live in the Clay Road District. Farm tip of the day. Did you know that peanuts are legumes? Peanuts are related to the bean family. Peanuts are root vegetables. And peanuts are harvested right now in Florida. Mayor, council, distinguished guests, what exactly does our political representation do up in Tallahassee, up in Washington, D.C., in Tavares, or even in this room right here? We are here to serve the citizens. And there are seven ups to service. One is to wake up. Two is to dress up. Three is to show up. Four is to listen up. Five is to speak up. Six is to follow up. Seven is to never, ever give up. The most important up of them all is showing up, being in the presence of the constituents. Showing up like me right here, speaking to you all at this meeting every month, sharing a farm tip or something dear to my heart. Showing up means going to that nativity play and supporting community theater, going to Love Groveland and carting out food and asking the clients how they are. Showing up means returning a phone call. returning an email, not a form email, but no, a specific email. 20 years ago, my mother had an issue with the state, so she reached out to her state representative. She got an assistant. The assistant said, Joe, which is his name, we'll get back with you in one day. They hung up, and in an hour, Joe had called back. He had listened to my mom. My mom stated her issue and Joe said, I need to do some research. Give me a day. They hung up and within an hour, Joe was back on the phone with my mother. He instructed her and he took her hand on how to work through the intricacies of government. This is service. In fact, Joe ended up being the Speaker of the House up in Tallahassee. I am Farmer Banks Halfric, candidate for State House District 25, and I show up. May you all be blessed. Thank you for allowing me to speak. And on a separate note, I'd like to add, what is home rule? Home rule is the power of all towns and cities and even counties to self-govern, pass laws, and manage internal affairs without asking for or needing explicit state permission. I wholeheartedly and 100% support home rule. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, City Council, Mayor. I'd like to thank the majority of the Council for showing up yesterday at the Arts and Rec Center. To me, that was very important that we have representation from the City Council inquiring on this new Panther Run project. There was a lot of information, but there was a lot of information left out, but I guess it's premature to ask those questions. All right, this morning I went to the BCC meeting and I asked them for a little more support. I first thanked them for helping me get a crossing guard on Hartwood Marsh and Hancock. The construction on Hancock and Hartwood Marsh Way It's not an eyesore. It's very dangerous for the children, okay? And I mean, my mind is, anybody under 18, okay? Children and teenagers do not know the difference between a safe road and a dangerous road. That is very important, all right? You got to understand, we're the largest growing city in Lake County. Our traffic is getting bigger and bigger. I don't have to explain that to you because you know I come up here all the time complaining about it. All right. But I brought to their attention, which they probably already knew, I fought for the imagination school or the imagined school. I fought crossing guard. But it's been brought to my attention from my neighbors around me that the Windy Hill Middle School gets out at 4 o'clock. And there's a lot of students that walk around. All right. And it's concerning to me because between the construction that's over there, it's very hard for even cars to navigate around the large heavy construction equipment. I also spoke to several crossing guards yesterday and early this morning and their hours are from 830 in the morning. until the school starts they take a break and they come back and then they end at the second time at 3 45. okay so i asked them for direction and help i'm also here pleading to the council if somebody from the city could reach out i know you have my email to let me know what channels i can do and what i need to do to extend the hours of this crossing guard all right uh i just take a ride down hot with marsh road and by the hand-cutting intersection we know that's the worst intersection in the world now with the construction it's really bad so you know maybe you guys could help me out with your voice with your power on the council and asking the Lake County or who's ever in charge of the crossing guards to just extend those hours, 45 minutes, all right? And then we'll reevaluate it after the construction is done. Thank you for your time and have a blessed meeting.

Thank you.

Uh, good afternoon. My name is Sarah Joe. I'm a Claremont resident, a mom and a registered nurse. Um, I was previously here to speak to you guys about the smoke shops and marijuana dispensaries in Claremont.

Ma'am.

Oh, yes.

I'm gonna have to stop you there. Okay. That's the item that's on the agenda.

No, I'm here to speak about something else, sir. I'm not talking about the item on the agenda.

I'm not speaking about smoke shops and all. Nope.

I'm talking about designer drugs. Something else today.

Okay.

Yep. Thank you, sir. And so, um, I've poured myself into researching what's going on in these smoke shops and tobacco retailers in Claremont. Claremont currently has at least seven medical marijuana dispensaries, 12 smoke shops, four cigar shops, and 23 gas stations that sell tobacco products. 11 of these gas stations also sell either Kratom or THC-laced products. I personally went to all 12 of these smoke shops and all 23 gas stations myself, drove around town. Our city prides itself on being a place where families can grow and elite athletes can come and train, but at the same time we're allowing this infestation of legal drug dealers to proliferate. It's an open secret that these types of businesses exploit legal loopholes to sell drug paraphernalia like crack pipes. Found those on a shop in Chevron on 27. You can buy actual crack pipes. They are legal. It's glassware, but there is nothing else you can use that for. And bongs. And synthetic designer drugs like Kratom, as well as novelty items like fake urine to help you pass a drug test. One of the retailers actually explained to me how to use the fake urine to pass a drug test for work. So that was very educational. Beyond that, these stores are frequently linked to organized crime, illegal drug trafficking, and money laundering here in Orlando. This is not hyperbole. Currently half, half of these current 12 shops that I was speaking of are under investigation by the state AG after the Claremont PD seized almost 1,000 illegal products last September. We don't have any ordinances to protect people from these products and we cannot stand by while our most vulnerable citizens are exploited by these companies whose entire business model is getting them addicted and making them sick. These stores provide no benefit to our community and we do not have to tolerate them. No one has a constitutional right to sell addictive substances to their neighbors. That's not something that's guaranteed by the constitution. This is not an issue of individual liberty. It's a consumer protection issue because your right to swing your fist stops at my face and you don't have a right to sell deadly addictive designer drugs in our community. And we need to ban the sale of designer drugs and we need to do it now. It's already been illegal in Sarasota County for 10 years. They passed a designer drug ordinance 10 years ago. and I would honestly like us to exactly replicate it. It is legally flawless, in my uninformed opinion, as I am not a lawyer. I want to specifically talk about Kratom, and that's what these pictures are. You'll see that I gave you guys a list of suggested ordinances. Every single thing there is stuff that other counties have done to help regulate these stores. You'll see the two press releases from the Claremont PD, as well as the state AG talking about the current investigation. And then all of the pictures are stuff that I personally took with my own phone and my own investigation. You can see the large amount of Kratom products that are being sold like unbeknownst to our consumers. What's really wild to me that I learned is that there is a Kratom representative from feel free, which I would call like the McDonald's of Kratom products. going gas station to gas station, finding places to sell their products. It's really sad. And I do apologize. But Kratom is addictive. It is deadly. It is in our community. It will get in our children's hands. A two-year-old, a little baby girl died in Melbourne back in May, overdosing on two Kratom pills. You can buy up to 750. That was the largest size quantity that I saw. And so at some point in my career as a nurse, I got tired of zipping up drug addicts into body bags and I wanted to do something about it. So that's why I'm here. I would love the opportunity. I did send an email and a text to everybody on this board. I would love the opportunity to discuss this with you individually. Most people don't know what Kratom is. You hear it. And if you look at the last page where you see the picture from the gas stations, you can see the display that's at Circle K. If you go to every Circle K in Claremont, they have the exact same display.

Well, I need you to wrap it up in about 10 seconds.

That's it. And so I really hope that you guys will pay attention to this. We need to ban designer drugs. We need to protect our kids. And I'd love the opportunity to discuss this with you guys further.

Thank you. This is a public comment. Anyone in public wish to address anything that's not on the agenda may come to the microphone and state your name and address and have three minutes. Yes, sir.

Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council members. Appreciate the opportunity to be here today. There you go. I'd like to reclaim my time. Sorry. This past week, I was invited by Senator Ashley Moody's office to attend the National Purple Heart Day in Pensacola, our country's oldest award, actually established by President George Washington. It used to be a small ribbon. It was brought back on his birthday in 1932. for those killed or wounded in war, combat action. I met this family. And I'd like to point out these two gentlemen. They served in Iraq together, wounded in the same combat action. This gentleman, you notice, has no legs. And this gentleman right here, both Army, both enlisted. Both seriously wounded. The one in the wheelchair had his legs blown off almost to his hips. The other one had his whole side blown in. The one standing up, they've been lifelong friends. It's happened. They're both being treated in critical triage. And one saw the other one fading, going into shock. He said, let me die. Save him. The guy that sat next to me was a Marine, the few, the proud. In 68 and 69, he was awarded three Purple Hearts and some other medals for valor. I'd like to see us in Claremont at least put on the calendar some of these important dates so citizens know those who serve, first responders, of course, firefighters, police officers, and those in the military, they tend to get forgotten. I hope God blesses each and every one of you. Thank you for your time. Thank you again.

Thank you. Anyone else? This is public comment. Anyone in the chamber wish to speak to anything that's not on the agenda may come to the microphone and state your name and address and have three minutes. No one else?

Good afternoon, Council. My name is Robert Bach. I live at 270 Division Street, Claremont. I'm here to talk about Meet Us in the Middle Veterans Responders Approval. That was back in November of 2025. Deadline for bids on the construction went out. They're due November 5th, but I realize also I was told that the bids went out on 3 August. This November 5th, did you realize the deadline is election day? Was this done on purpose? Why wasn't November 1st or the 4th considered? The final council approval needs to be done. We were expecting to have it done the last week in October. And it's just that It's been dragging on so long that the money's there. Why hasn't the final approval of the plans been done? Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Anyone else? This is public comment. Anyone in the public wish to address anything that's not on agenda may come to the microphone and state your name and address and have three minutes. Seeing no one else in the chamber, we have anyone online, sir? No, sir. None online, so we will close public comment at this time. Before I go in, if I missed the Van Wagner, is there any changes to the agenda?

Two things that are noteworthy. First of all, item number 15, Ms. Forth has requested to move her citizen request to September 8th, but no further action is required by the council on that. I'll work with her directly.

September 8th?

That's what she's requested.

Okay.

Yeah. And we have on the consent agenda item five, there was a small error in the agreement that's in your packet. You have the correct document now in your supplemental folder. Okay.

And I can direct you to what, basically version 10 of the agreement is what's in the packet. Version 11 is what you have in print. There's just really one change, and it's in section 3 of the agreement. Basically, there's language in there that was removed saying that the rates from the district's study would be used instead of we just removed that language it's going to use i believe the city rates yes and also um we added the word ownership because the city is going to be uh owning the infrastructure so um we didn't consider this this is not a material but as you can tell by the fact that this is version 11 it went through a lot of back and forth on the specifics to make sure that it was right you say section three section three on page Let's see. One, two, three, page three, section three, talking about the irrigation distribution. Yeah, so that first sentence says, as contemplated by this interlocal agreement, the parties agree that the ownership and operation of the improvements shall be the responsibility of the city. It didn't have that ownership language in there before. And in online, the whole last sentence has been removed because, and that's what's said online. It said that the irrigation improvements shall be operated in accordance with the district's rate study. That's not going to happen. It's not going to follow the district rates. It's going to be the city rates. So that was removed.

Okay.

All righty.

Was it always the intent that the city would own the infrastructure?

Please.

Yes.

All right. Thank you. Hi, good afternoon. My name is Kristen Trukle. I can speak on behalf of the petitioner for this item, Wellness Ridge Community Development District. It was always the intent for the city to own that infrastructure. It's actually reflected already in the last whereas clause on the prior page too. So it had already stated the city will own Or will own certain irrigation distribution systems and well infrastructure, including, but not limited to piping meters and 212 inch wells.

Am I looking at the right document? No, okay. Can you point me to the right document? And actually, I have an extra if you'd like this is posted online and the supplemental documents.

Well, version 10 is posted in the agenda packet. This is version 11.

but we should have a supplemental posted online so the public can see what we're seeing.

Absolutely. But you often pass things that are amended at the meeting anyways.

It could be passed as is. It's just in version 10, the last whereas clause already stated that the city owns or will own. So we didn't want there to be an inconsistency in the document itself between the whereas clause and paragraph three. We didn't want that to cause confusion. It was always the intent for the city to own that. It was in version 10 already.

It doesn't change. That word does not change how the agreement works.

In other words, it was just changing ownership.

it's added for clarity it's yeah so it was originally and maintenance i'm not sure where you're looking at well if the ownership changes then the maintenance responsibilities change it was it was always to be owned and maintained and operated by the city by the city Well, it's not exactly what it says, but I mean, until five minutes ago, that's not what it said.

Do we need to pull this item? Let's pull this item. Yeah, let's pull it. Thanks. Yeah. Okay.

Okay. We've got a representative, too, here from the CDD, more representatives that can speak on that as well. Okay. Thank you.

Do you not have a copy? I don't have that copy.

Can I just ask for a point of clarification? The version 11 is what the city clerk distributed to us in between the CRA meeting and this meeting.

Should have been, yes. There's no, right.

It was not actually in the paper clipped supplemental packet. It was hand delivered to us in between the two meetings. And it's a stapled document that starts with interlocal agreement between City of Claremont and the Wellness Ridge, et cetera, et cetera.

That's that document right there. Yes. I think this is Christian.

Any other changes, Mr. Van Wagner?

No other changes.

We have no other changes, and then we'll move on. Which is the next part is the consent agenda of the meeting, which contains items that have been determined to be routine and non-controversial. If anyone in the audience wished to address a particular item on the consent agenda, now is the opportunity for you to do so. Additionally, if staff members or city councilmen wish to speak on a consent item, they have the same opportunity. Consent items tonight are items 1 through 7. Other than item, what number was that? Item number five? Ms. Strange?

Yes, please, poll number five.

Any other items need to be pulled from the consent agenda?

I have a question on item seven before, if we need to pull for the city attorney. For item number seven for the administrative fines regarding code enforcement, right now the language of the resolution reads that code enforcement actions, this is section one, shall be $24.54 per hour. It's my understanding through my agenda review meeting that this is based on the lowest hourly wage of the personnel doing or performing the work. Can we write this resolution such that it uses that language versus the actual dollar amount so that if that does change and when that changes with salary structures and restructures, we don't have to constantly update that to that lowest figure?

I think we could. We could put that and then maybe even in an annual fee update, change that number just so it's easy to know what that number is. Right, right.

OK, yeah.

OK. I would like to see that number stay in there and be updated each year. So the people out there, when they go through, they know what they're dealing with, what they're seeing, and rather than having to go and research what's the figure each year.

So we could add the language that says this is the lowest hourly rate, which is $24.54, as may be updated by the annual fee update.

If we were going to add that to the figure, would we need to pull that to do that?

Oh, no.

Okay.

In other words, if you make the motion to approve consent items with the amendment, that's acceptable.

Okay. Thank you. That's what I would ask that we do if we're all in agreement. Yeah.

Yeah, well, as a word, let's keep the figure in there as well, and we need to update the figures with me anyway. Any other items? Seeing none, I entertain a motion on items one through four and items six and seven with the amendment.

So moved. Second.

Okay, I have a motion and a second to accept the consent agenda items one through four and six and seven and item seven with the stated amendment. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, let it be known by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? Chair vote aye as well. Motion passes 5-0. Yes, ma'am. Item number five.

Okay, good afternoon. Again, my name is Kristin Truckel, and I've got Lane Register from Lennar Homes as well with me. My understanding is that, so just for clarity, you have version 10 in your packet? Well, I have two versions, so now I have three versions. Okay. Yeah. All right. Well, I can say, so version 10, if you look at the second page, The last whereas clause in there says the city owns or will own certain irrigation distribution systems and well infrastructure, including the piping meters and two 12-inch wells. And so that was in the version that you received.

Importantly, it calls that the irrigation improvements clause. Because we'll have to distinguish that from improvements in the prior whereas later on.

Exactly. That's what I'm trying to. Has our public works?

They've approved it, reviewed it, and they wanted to make sure that you had version 11 printed out so that you could review it. But I think, and I hate to interrupt, but I think the confusion may be that if you look on page three, It does say there is a section in number two, maintenance responsibilities. The district shall maintain and operate the improvements, capital I.

Right.

But that is defined in the prior page as parkways and certain sidewalks. That's the second to last whereas on this page. And then on the next one, there's a separate term for irrigation improvements. And that has always been intended to be owned and maintained by the city.

And why is the city owning and maintaining irrigation improvements?

I believe that was pursuant to the construction plans that the city has already approved. Is that correct?

Hello. Mr. Stoney. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, sir.

I'm sorry, Stoney Brunson, Public Service Director. What was the question?

Why is it in the best interest of the city when there's a CDD that collects taxes from the residents for the city to maintain irrigation improvements for Wellness Way CDD?

I'll simply say it's us controlling the irrigation to the citizens instead of the CDD controlling the rates. But at the end, it'll be the council's decision on where it goes.

We're controlling the rates. Are we also regulating the amount of water that goes?

It would be either or. So if the CD, they still have to have a CUP, a Consumptive Use Permit. So they'd have to have the same regulations as the city do. So they'd have to do the enforcement just as the city would.

Because this is coming from wells, correct? This is not the same kind of... This isn't reclaimed water and this isn't potable water. This is well water, correct?

It's correct. It's a lower form of potable. It's not untreated water.

So... It seems, I need the why wouldn't we do this argument. Why would this not be in the best interest of the city of Claremont to accept responsibility for ownership and maintenance as well as operation of the wells?

Well, that's where I was getting at. We control everything. We control the rates. We control the water. We control the fines, if there's any, how people use water, all that good stuff.

Which in the long run is probably a benefit for the infrastructure and the city system.

Okay, keep going. I'm going to read I haven't I mean, I was handed a document five minutes ago. So I think this is somewhat contentious. There's been a lot of conflict. I'm not against it inherently. I'm just against getting two versions of the same document in the same day without having a chance to read it.

Yeah, I mean, the the only change in terms of substance is that it won't be using the district rates, it'll be using the city rates.

Yeah, and if I can elaborate, Lane Register, Lenore Holmes. So I'm not standing up here representing the CDD. So I want to back up for just a second and set a little bit of additional context here that I think is relevant. So the CDD owns the physical tracks on which these wells are located. Understood. So to that end, the CDD, this interlocal in part, this interlocal, especially for everybody listening, does not just contemplate irrigation. There is much more that goes into roles and responsibilities here. But because the CDD physically currently today owns the tracks that those wells sit on, this is also kind of a helpful way to memorialize that the CDD will not be the you know, owner of the irrigation infrastructure. Currently today, the wells, the wells and all of their appurtenances, all the pumps and everything are currently owned by Lenar homes. So they were not constructed with, you know, any CDD funds or anything like that. The, you know, quote unquote, we'll use the word reclaim the purple irrigation mains out in the road. Some of those were funded by CDD infrastructure, or excuse me, by CDD bonds. But just like every other utility system that is in the ground out there, those have been conveyed to the city. So the idea here is that kind of memorializing, like I said, that the city is not the irrigation provider. as well as at some point, somebody will have to tell me if this would actually go to council. I don't think it will, but Lenar Homes will provide a bill of sale for all the infrastructure that Lenar Homes currently owns to the city. And then further, the CDD will sign a deed over to the city, deeding the land. So, you know, this is kind of, if I could borrow a term, maybe like a belt and suspenders kind of thing here. So that's the, you know, and the other thing that I'll say is that by the city setting the rates, it's really no different uh between the city or the cdd setting the rates we've got the same requirements that we've got to go through in terms of like noticing and all that um however the um you know whatever the city is doing with irrigation rates presumably i'm kind of speaking for the city here but i'm assuming that that just applies to this irrigation being provided now sitting here today the these wells are essentially like ready to turn on ready to activate and hand over to the city and it would be you know the the rates collected would be used to maintain said well system or irrigation improvements understood however my concern would be a scenario where for example

Let's say, using an extreme example, to operate these particular wells, the cost of operation per gallon is twice the cost of operation of a city potable water somewhere else in the city. Because it's in the city and because we have to have the same rates overall, what that would do is increase the cost of operation. water for every citizen in Claremont because these wells cost more. The inverse is true. If the wells are more efficient and they cost less, then everyone in the city would receive the benefit of lower cost at the cost of the folks down in this neighborhood. That's my concern is that we're adding a different type. And that's why I'm interested. We were operating and the fees were at the district rate. Now we are owning and the fees would be at our rate. I don't feel that I have had time to get sufficient answers from staff to ask the questions related to this as I sit here today. Literally, I was looking at the document that was in my supplemental packet that was this other document that wasn't given to me. It's not that I'm against it. I don't know that I have a strong opinion one way or the other. And I don't know whether it's material. You're saying it's not, so it's not. I'm not comfortable voting yes to something I don't fully understand. And so I would be, if you're open to us postponing one meeting, I would be comfortable. If you need to vote today, you probably have the votes. I'm not trying to make a problem. I just am caught off guard. So I apologize.

Yeah, totally understood. And I'm flexible on this. This is between the CDD and the city. So I'm standing up here giving you some context for this specific little piece of this. So like I said, I know that this is a document that the city has been pursuing for a while. This does memorialize a bunch of additional things. So anyway, I'm indifferent to that.

Okay. I'll defer to my, I think we have to do the public and the council, but that's kind of, I have cold feet about moving forward, but I'm willing to listen to the others and council and the public.

Ma'am, will you do your presentation?

I'm sorry. Oh, sure. Yeah. And I would just reiterate. So it sounds like the initial version that was provided to you all is version 10. If you turn to the last page there, it lays out all the infrastructure and what entity would be responsible for maintaining it. So this just solidifies the CDD will maintain the parkways and sidewalks along the city roadway. except no pressure washing the sidewalks in front of private residential lots. That will be done by the HOA. The city will own and maintain the irrigation distribution systems and the well infrastructure, including the two 12-inch wells. They will not maintain the four-inch wells and any irrigation improvements connected to the four-inch wells as well.

With this version 11 that we're looking at, the main thing that changed was section 3.

section three that was the change so and then the change there just as your council had pointed out was removing the sentence that basically The last sentence of paragraph three, it says the parties hereby agree the irrigation improvements shall be operated in accordance with the CDD's adopted rate study. Provides that date and adopted rate schedule for the then current fiscal year, which rate schedule was adopted by the CDD at a duly noticed public meeting. So my understanding is that city staff had requested that they wanted to control the rates and that was the purpose for taking that out. So there was no objection from the CDD's end on that language being taken out there. And then just adding the word ownership to paragraph three was done. But I would just point out that it was in the last whereas clause already from the version that's included in the original, the agenda that you received.

Thank you, ma'am.

All right.

This is a public meeting. Anyone in the chamber wish to address this item may come to the microphone and state your name and address and have three minutes.

Can I clarify one thing? The mistake wasn't on their end with the documents. It was on our end. We're the ones that didn't get the right one in there on my side. It wasn't on their side. Just to clarify that.

That's helpful. Thank you, Scott.

Yes, sir.

Once again, good afternoon, Vincent Nemec, Regency Hills. Just one question because I live in an HOA with wells and the pumps do go out. Councilman Strange, I do feel your pain about receiving a document just before I have to cash my decision over. And I commend you for speaking out like that. Most important question, two questions. How many wells are we talking about? just two right now i thought there was four in the proposal but it's okay we're talking about two wells did anybody inspect the wells before we take ownership of the wells because i know wells they come and they go i'm going through that my hoa right now okay thank you very much thank you anyone else

Curt Schuh, Mayor, City Council. I took a couple notes tonight. So wells, depending on the depth and the efficiency of the wells, there's an engineering study. They talk about how far down they go into the aquifer. Also, is the CDD established that raises funds under a separate tax authority? Was that raised under the assumption that that was going to pay for some of these costs? And is there... I actually agree with Council Member Strange because there's a cost-benefit analysis of an engineering study. What is the lifespan? What is the maintenance cycle, life costs? And... What was the warranty provided when the wells were drilled? Typically that's approved by the county or the state because a certain depth, if we actually hit problems with the aquifer, you've got to put in a new well. RHOA looked at wells and the community members didn't vote for it because the cost of how far going down and how you coordinate the well cost. It would have been cheaper a decade or so ago. Now those wells cost a lot more. When I moved in here and bought my home in 2012, a pool cost $35,000. Now my neighbors are paying $100,000. So what are the life cycle spans of the cost of this water? I see you should control the rate, but I don't know what the maintenance costs are. I talked at a bit a couple years ago with Sean Parks. A road is both an asset to the county and the city and a liability. When they first started Heartwood Marsh, it was going to be a million and change a mile. Last time I heard is three to four million dollars a mile. And you guys are smarter about that than I am. I used to do cost-benefit analysis in the government and the military. So if you look at the lifespan, should the CDE have an obligation over a certain period or a warranty that these wells were put in well, they're inspected, and they're efficient for a 10-year life cycle? So as Ms. Strange mentioned, you're not actually having a sunk cost. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Yes, sir.

Joe Fmasi, 2693 Jumpin' Jack Way. So I understand you weren't given the correct information or stuff, but at the same time, when they first built that project, they put us on the city potable water, which basically made the city responsible for the irrigation section. So then CDD had the idea of starting this irrigation. If you've read the rate study and the 3% increase, and all the things that they added in there. It wasn't a very representable system that we were already under the city. So we pay currently, our irrigation bills come from the city of Claremont. So now I don't know why we wanna be pushed into the CDE for that purpose when we already have our set provider, right, when we sign that. So I think that I would like to stay under the city irrigation system that I started with, compared to have to start with a whole new system. And I thought that, because I spoke up at the CDD meeting about this, and the costs were ridiculous. There was no guarantee of how much they were going to raise the prices after it got approved. There was a lot of variables that were not discussed or set down. Just for the turning off the water because it was too high, we used too much, they were going to charge you $195 just to have that water turned back on and $95 to restart the account. And currently, we have a system, right, that we're directly under right now. So how could – why would you want to kick us off when we've started and then push us into something that was way higher than cost? Because what if the city started copying their – I think that you'd probably hear a lot of city folks up at arms right if you change the their bill setting so I hope that you'll take the time and I agree that maybe you should have time to evaluate it fully and that Should table until you feel comfortable? But I'd like you to at least consider that we started with a city. We would like to stay with the city.

Thank you Thank you anyone else Anyone else This is a public forum. Anyone in public wishes to address this item may come to the microphone and state your name and address and have 3 minutes. Seeing no 1 else in chamber. Mr. Wayne, do we have anybody online? No, 1 online. I closed public comment. Uh, Miss strange.

My question would be for Stoney if we want to talk while he's coming up. I just want to know when I brought up the parade of horribles about the possibility of one section of the city or user type of the city subsidizing another section or user type of the city, you know, while I appreciate the comments of the gentleman from the public, What I'm hearing is the actual cost of operating these wells exceeds the actual cost of operating existing city infrastructure. And so my question to you as the public works director is, is the cost of maintaining and operating these wells going to be materially significant, materially or significantly different per user per as the cost of maintaining our existing infrastructure in such a way that adding these wells to our inventory could detrimentally impact any other residents in the city?

I wish I had a good answer for you, but I can't answer that without getting into the details. How many homes, how much power, all that good stuff. I mean, I can get you the answers.

Could you get me that within two weeks?

But what I'll say is that current was designed to go off the potable system in a jumper. It wasn't designed on a well system. It was approved by the city back in the day to be tied into our potable system for irrigation. That's how it was designed.

So why are we doing a well now?

Because they've got the wells there, which I'm going to say long term, it could be a benefit to the city because of the area we could use the wells once we get in or do the details. We could use it to supplement storage down there for other areas of the city.

So I'm going to be the crunchy council member who's concerned about our aquifer. I mean, are we tapping into an aquifer unnecessarily?

They have those wells. I can't speak for Lane, but I'm pretty sure one of them was they were old grove wells that still had CUPs on them. So they were there already. They just outfitted them and upgraded them to use for irrigation water.

So what happens if we don't take them? Can we keep the citizens on the potable water that they have now?

Like I said, it was originally designed on a jumper, which is off the potable into the irrigation. Yes. That's why, like Mr. Framasi said, they're being billed by the city right now.

So if we own it, could we shut them down if we wanted to and do the potable?

Or we can never turn them on. That's the council decision.

Well, the thing is, what we were trying to do is get them off of potable water. That was the whole goal here. We were trying to reduce the use of potable water, and these wells doesn't go down as deep, so they're not really all the way into the aquifer. They're using what I like to call dirty water, pretty much for irrigation. And that was the whole idea. They were trying to figure out a way to get them off of potable water.

I have no further questions.

I'm sorry, did you say you had a question?

I don't have any more questions.

And what I'll say is a couple of things. So Lenar Homes has put about $4 million into rehabbing the physical wells and installing pump systems and everything, and nobody really cares what a developer spent. But we were instructed by the city that we would need to find our own irrigation source out there and that we would need to eventually disconnect ourselves from the potable water. So what I will say... you know interlocal agreement in the context of this conversation aside totally fine um but like I said it would um it would be very unfortunate it you know I feel for us to have like us have been directed to remove ourselves from the potable water and we put four million dollars of infrastructure on the ground which we are turning over to the city as an income producing asset and that goes away so you know I feel like there's a little bit of a um

Sense of injustice.

Sure. We'll go with that.

Sure. Now I have a question. Did we give you any impact fee credits for the construction of those wells?

No. We have received zero compensation. Okay.

All right. Thank you. My questions have been answered.

Just one thing so you all know, I spoke with the vice president of Sunshine Water. They have an interest in taking over the water if we do not.

I have a letter of intent signed with them that I'm walking away from to give you guys this well system.

Thank you.

So.

And please understand, I'm caught off guard by the change.

But I want everybody to understand that this is not Lennar. This has very little to do with the CDD. So remove them from the conversation. This is not Lennar putting irrigation to you guys. This is a very low cost of maintenance system. I myself went through the rate study when we did it. you know most of the rate setting quite frankly is driven by um the water management district's requirements to essentially penalize and i'm going to say some things that are probably going to upset some people but it's meant to penalize increased usage you know if you got a 100% St. Augustine yard and you're spending 500 bucks a month on, you know, irrigation in the city, you're going to be paying a lot more than that. And that's all about, you know, water resources. You know, that's something that, and some people are going to roll their eyes in the audience here, but that's something that just for me personally, water resources are a big concern for me. So that's nothing to do with my position at Lenore or anything. But to that end, those rates are set to penalize essentially overwatering But they are set based on home type, size, amount of irrigated area. So the whole purpose is that you have enough allocation in your base rate to water your yard. If you choose to exceed that, you're going to have to pay a premium. And so that's meant to disincentivize. So anyway, that's a little context. So like I said, we have a LOI with Sunshine. I can hand the system over to them.

i'd rather work with you guys and maintain the really good relationship that we have with the city and hand this income producing asset to you guys yes so yes uh quick question hold on hold on mr mr mr peterson mr bain you have anything no questions all right mr peterson can the city own it but the cdd maintain it

Can that be set up that way or not?

Then that would be – talking about inequity, that would be pretty unequal here. The ownership is – honestly, in the whole scheme of things, this is relevant. Whoever is collecting the cost – or excuse me, collecting the revenue from the system needs to be the one to maintain it. That's the purpose of the revenue. So if the CDD is collecting the revenue, then the CDD will maintain it. If the city is collecting the revenue, the city will maintain it. Okay.

One question, Mr. Van Wagen, you say sunshine and interest in taking over the water. Stone, a question, if sunshine came in there, would they provide all the water, even to Wellness Ridge that they're already getting from the city? Would they take over everything down there?

The potable, no, they wouldn't.

Just this one area? Just irrigation. And it's also my understanding that sunshine rates are a lot higher than ours. My understanding, they are. So I'd rather keep them under our rates in any way because my understanding, the sunshine is a little bit higher than we are. Yes, it is. But they would just take over this one area, not the rest of the subdivision down there, okay?

I was just going to add that taking out that last sentence in paragraph three, that's less restriction against the city. So the city could choose to follow the rates in the CDD's adopted rate schedule or not. So, I think that was a good, I mean, I think that's in the city's in your favor if you were to adopt this is to have that last sentence taken out, which is 1 of the revisions in version 11. Can I ask a question?

Yes, Mr. wall, can you explain again the benefit of us having this. Of the city owning all of this in this section.

Well, I think I defer to what Mr. Brunson said, which is there may be some advantages to it being a part of our infrastructure and our ability to use it as well. I think that something that was raised about the rates may be a benefit in the public interest to the people. It increases the flexibility in that you have the ability to use their rates, as Trucco said. And you'll notice, I mean, as well, this is an interlocal agreement that's required by ordinance. We have to pass something at some point. And it's also been pointed out, this is actually a very small part. I'm not saying it's not material, but there's a lot that has gone. If you look at exhibit C, I think it is, there's a lot of different types of infrastructure here and allocation of responsibilities. You know, local roads, including curb, alleyways, sidewalks, traffic signals, decorative traffic signs, stormwater. There's 17 things listed. So it's just got to be done at some point. I think it's in everyone's interest to get something done. The allocation ultimately is up to the parties.

Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, if there is no further question, I entertain a motion. Item number five.

I move to approve item number five, interlocal agreement, community development district.

Second.

I have a motion and a second to approve item number five, interlocal agreement with the said changes. Any further discussions? No. Hearing none, all in favor let it be known by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? And chair vote aye as well. Motion passes 5-0. All right. Item number eight is final consideration of ordinance number 2026-026.

An ordinance of the City Council of the City of Claremont, Lake County, Florida, amending Article 3, Section 101-211, Notice of Public Hearing. Article 4, Section 101-245, Notice of Public Hearing. Article 5, Section 101-281, Notice of Public Hearing. and article five section one two five five two seven live local act project review procedure of the charter laws of the city of claremont providing that notice of public hearings for conditional use permits variances rezonings future land use map amendments and live local act applications shall be provided to property owners within 450 feet of the subject property, providing that where any property within 450 feet is governed by a property owner's association, such as a condominium association or homeowner's association. Notice shall also be provided to such association, providing for conflict, severability, codification, administrative correction of scrivener's error, publication, and effective date.

Thank you. Yes, ma'am.

Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council, members, and guests. Justine Day with Development Services. Staff at the direction of the City Manager and City Council is proposing an amendment to the land development codes to expand the required public hearing notification area. The land development codes currently requires notices for specific development applications to be mailed to adjoining properties within 150 feet of the subject property. This is to provide nearby property owners and potential stakeholders with information about the proposed development and the opportunity to participate at the scheduled public hearings. Staff is proposing to increase the notification radius from 150 feet to 450 feet. The amendment also includes that notification is to be provided to a property owners association, such as a condominium association or homeowners association. If any property within the 450 foot area of the subject property is governed by such association, no changes are being proposed to the existing newspaper publication or onsite signage posting requirements. Applicants requiring public hearings for development applications including conditional use permits, variances, map amendments, or Live Local Act projects will be affected by this amendment. Staff finds the change to be beneficial as expanding the notification radius will better inform nearby residents and stakeholders about proposed land use changes that may impact their properties or communities. The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval 5-0 of the proposed amendment. Staff recommends approval of ordinance number 2026-026. This concludes staff presentation.

Thank you, ma'am. This is a public hearing. Anyone in the chamber wish to address this item may come to the microphone and state your name and address and have three minutes. This is a public forum. Anyone in the chamber wish to address this item may come to the microphone and state your name and address and have three minutes. Anyone? Seeing no one, I'll close public comment in the chamber. Anyone online, sir? No one online. We have closed public comment. We'll say you, Ms. Strange.

I have no questions.

Okay. Mr. Bing.

No questions, but are we going to do the statement round after questions? Okay. Then I'll reserve that.

Okay. Ms. Myers.

We're going to have a statement after this.

No questions.

We should do a statement now. The statement's on the file. Round two. Then no questions at this point in time.

Okay. I have no questions other than the fact that Ms. McGowan. Yes, sir.

I really have... Thank you. I'm still learning this system as...

Yes, sir. I was just assuming it's council that would have the statements, but, I mean, staff, I guess, could have a statement, too, as a part of the presentation. The statement is second. Yeah.

Was I the one or Mr. Waugh? I thought you said Mr. Waugh.

Well, I was actually referring to Mr. Bain. He's the one that said he had a statement. I know you didn't say anything, but if you want a statement, you're welcome.

I wanted to thank you, Council Member Bain, for doing the hard work on this. I think it's great, and so I'm going to support it.

Thank you, Mayor. This has been a priority since serving on the Planning and Zoning Commission for two years. We often hear from residents that they just weren't aware that a development was occurring near their home. And I think that there's always going to be an argument for what the radius should be. But at some point, we do have to create a number out there and have it in a way that staff is not manually measuring distances from a development. And so we picked the 450, which is a 200% increase over our current requirement that we have out there, knowing that staff will also still implement the additional 50 feet to make sure that everyone's included in that radius. And then what we also did is we added that if any property in there is in an HOA or a condo association, that association gets a notification. So it puts the onus on your HOA or your condo board to also let everyone know that there's a development occurring nearby. And so I encourage our residents out there to talk to your HOA presidents, your condo association presidents, and make sure that they're aware of this new requirement if this gets passed so that they do communicate out to you that there's something happening. And thank you, Ms. Strange, for those words. I really need to give props to the staff, city attorney, and the planning and development staff for putting together the actual language and working with me on that. And next we can tackle those little signs that are next to the development, and we can start talking about what we might be able to do to improve that. So I hope we get this moving and go from there. Thank you.

Mr. Meyers.

Good job. Thank you.

Mr. Peterson. I mean, this is a real transparency win, I think, for the community, because a lot of people, you know, with the, it was, I believe, 50 feet. Now we're going, so it's triple the amount. So it's really going to be good. They're not going to be coming to us after the fact, you know, why did you do this? So I think it's a great thing for the public to, and I want to thank you, Commissioner Bain, for bringing this new process up. It's going to increase civility and decrease the amount of time we wasted and cross talk. Thank you again.

All right. Thank you. And all I had to say is, Steph, the next thing I would like to see is the size of the sign increased.

We'll include that.

Okay. So they can see the sign. Of course, that's been one of my complaints. You can't hardly see them. They're so small a lot of times, and people can't read them when they go past and everything because the language is so small. If there's nothing else, entertain a motion.

I would like to move Ordinance Number 2026-026. I second. I have a motion.

and a second for approval of ordinance number 2026-026. Any further discussion? Hearing none, roll call. Council Member Strange.

Aye.

Council Member Bain. Aye. Council Member Myers. Aye. Council Member Peterson. Aye. And the Chair vote aye as well. Ordinance passed 5-0. Item number nine is for final consideration of ordinance number 2026-027.

An ordinance of the City Council of the City of Claremont, Florida establishing on the proposed property known as Sanctuary at Wellness and further described herein in recognizing the Community Development District created and chartered by Uniform General Law, the Uniform Community Development District Act of Florida Chapter 190 Florida Statutes acknowledging the Uniform District Charter expressed in Sections 190.006, 190.041 Florida Statutes and as referenced and provided by section one ninety point zero zero four per and four florida statutes and confirmed by section one eight nine Establishing the Sanctuary at Wellness Community Development District on the property proposed in this petition and designating the initial members of the district board of supervisors and designating the proposed land area within which the district may manage and finance its basic infrastructure systems, facilities, services, improvements, and projects. requiring a memorandum of understanding regarding reciprocal drainage within the Wellness Ridge Community Development District, providing for severability and repeal, providing for administrative correction of Scrivener's error, providing for an effective date, and providing for recording.

Thank you, ma'am. Yes, sir.

Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council members and guests, John Cruz, Development Services. The city received a petition to establish a community development district, CDD, from Lenar Homes on June 5th, 2026. The property is located within the city of Claremont within the Wellness Way area, and it consists of approximately 168 acres of land for the residential portion. And on the display, it's the hatched area. The project Sanctuary Wellness Ridge, also known as Lennar Swap, received council approval for annexation comprehensive plan amendment and a PUD rezoning on January 23rd, 2024. The project was approved for up to 699 residential dwelling units, along with up to 228,612 square feet of non-residential use. The petitioner has proposed to establish the Sanctuary at Wellness Community Development District to plan, finance, acquire, construct, operate, and maintain infrastructure, community facilities, and road operation and maintenance, which may be authorized by such districts under Florida law. This petition is to establish the Sanctuary at Wellness CDD only and is not affiliated or connected to the existing Wellness Ridge CDD or community. A previous request was received in December 2025 to amend the Wellness Ridge Community Development District to add this land into the existing district. In an attempt to satisfy resident concerns, the property was removed from consideration to expand the district boundary and the petitioner now requests to form a new CDD for this development comprised of this land. Lennar has installed infrastructure to support the residential development within this area. Lennar is in the initial stages of constructing residential units that should be available for occupancy very soon. Council's role is to hear the petition and vote to either approve or deny the establishment of the CDD. As a result of a few comments during the introduction hearing on July 28th at city council meeting, the applicant has provided an updated petition and ordinance addressing those comments. The main change is the requirement of a memorandum of understanding regarding reciprocal drainage with the Wellness Ridge Community Development District. This update was provided in your supplemental packet and is in section seven of the ordinance and has been reviewed by the city attorney. Staff recommends approval of Ordinance 2026-027 with the addition of Section 7. That concludes staff's presentation.

Thank you.

Hey, good afternoon, Lane Register, Lenar Holmes again. So I obviously represent Lenar Holmes as the petitioner for this establishment here, and then I've also got Kristen Trucco, who will be the interim CDD attorney upon the establishment. For any questions, I know that Kristen gave a fairly detailed presentation last time. I know, Ms. Strange, you were hopefully following along remotely. So we won't dive back into all the specifics there, but we are here to obviously answer any questions. A couple of things. I want to talk about the MOU for the stormwater. That was something that Ms. Strange actually brought up, and that was kind of a... Quite frankly, an oversight that we hadn't included as part of the petition originally. So we have since included this memorandum of understanding, which establishes very clearly the reciprocal drainage between both CDDs and their requirements to adhere to their water management district permits and to maintain the stormwater system. So, again, here for any questions. You know, I don't know if Kristen has anything else you'd like to add.

Thank you.

Thanks. Okay, Kristin Truco, 201 South Orange Avenue, Suite 1400, Orlando, Florida, 32801. Good afternoon, City Council. I actually have some excerpts from the MOU. We sent a quick, short PowerPoint presentation too for this. Excuse me. Let's see, that looks like it, yep.

Okay.

That's it, yeah. And then I guess we just need that one.

Let's see if we have any. Did you go in here?

Just clickers.

There you go. Let me give you a clicker.

Perfect.

Okay, and as Lane mentioned, so after the last city council meeting, I spoke to the CDD's engineer for Wellness Ridge Community Development District and the project engineer for the land within the sanctuary at Wellness Community Development District. They explained to me that the stormwater management systems for both CDDs have already been designed and permitted to allow for reciprocal drainage to and from the property within both CDDs. And that's reflected in the construction plans as well that the city already approved. So at this point, we thought, there's no harm in putting something in writing, reducing it to writing for clarity in the future for the residents within the boundary of each CDD, acknowledging the reciprocal drainage to and from the stormwater systems in both CDDs, and then acknowledging that each CDD has to comply with all the permit requirements related to that reciprocal drainage in the stormwater systems. But those requirements already exist in the permits themselves. So In the future, if there was an issue with one CDD not maintaining in accordance with the permit, not only would they just, they would have remedies with St. John's River Water Management District for violation of the permit, but they could also point to the memorandum of understanding too that both CDD signed and go to a court and ask for something like specific performance. or bring a claim for breach of that too so it's just it's basically just additional it's just an additional precaution but these requirements already exist they're already recognized in you know the construction plans that the city has already proved that there's reciprocal drainage there are also requirements in the st john's river water management district permits too so in the actual um mou let's see here if i can oh thank you okay I took out some excerpts from the MOU, but you do have a copy. I also have hard copies for you all if you'd like. but you can see in paragraph three, it references the actual environmental resource permits that have already been issued by St. John's for those particular systems, which reflect the reciprocal drainage already. So it's just acknowledging those already require this reciprocal drainage. Both CDDs will be required to pay the cost of complying with the permits and maintaining their respective systems within their boundary. Okay. And then, yeah, so that's, we put that together. We put a memorandum of understanding together to try to address that. And then if the city council is up for that or agrees with that approach, we would also recommend just amending the ordinance to add that basically within 120 days following the effective date of the ordinance, establishing the sanctuary wellness CDD. that the CDDs are required to sign this MOU that reflects those terms. So we think that that's a good way just to acknowledge the responsibilities that already exist with regard to that reciprocal drainage. Okay, and then yeah, I won't bore you again with my presentation, but, you know, I can go back through this just regarding the benefits of having a CDD rather than a private entity take over the services that the CDD would provide here for operation and maintenance and financing. on a long-term basis of the public infrastructure. You know that CDDs are a special district. Special districts have been around for over 180 years. CDDs have been around since the 80s, so I think 44 years. You know that CDDs are a form of government under the law. As a result of that, we're subject to Sunshine Law, public records law as well as code of ethics for public officials. If any member of the public or resident believes that there's been a violation of that, there is state oversight through the Attorney General Office, through the Commission on Ethics for the state as well. So there's recourse for residents even at the initial board member stage with the landowner seats as well. unique to CDDs. They're statutorily required to be audited by a licensed public accountant at least once a year. That audit has to be sent to Florida Auditor General, Florida Department of Financial Services. Those are requirements that don't exist for private entities or other entities that would provide for operation, maintenance, and financing of the public infrastructure on a long-term basis. Assessments if they were to increase by just even a dollar, CDD is required to send mailed notice to all residents within the CDD boundary. Again, that's a protection for the residents of the CDD doesn't exist for other forms of entities that could provide this service as well. The budget has to be sent to the city at least 60 days prior to adoption. This is a big benefit of CDDs that their assessments may be collected on the county tax roll. So that means their first priority lien co equal. To property taxes, only the property owner that doesn't pay taxes is subject to losing their property through a tax deed sale. Same with a lot of the same laws that apply to cities and counties apply to CDs. They're statutorily required to comply with public bidding laws, competitive solicitation laws as well. Um, less expensive infrastructure financing, because they're able to utilize tax exempt bond financing, which results in savings to residents in the event that these public infrastructure systems need to be repaired in 1020 years. There's more financing options available for residents as well. Uh, and then specifically St John's river water management district had released a statement that they feel that are the preferred entity for maintaining stormwater management systems within property. We, and they've stated, because it's, they're able to levy assessments. They're able to collect on. The county's tax role, and then also cannot be abolished or terminated without providing without coming back to the city and you all approving basically another entity to take over service of the of the public infrastructure. So, this is the water management district for this making that statement. We've included that here too. So. We've already gone through all of this information. Just for clarity, there was a question as to the original board for this CDD. So I wanted just to take an excerpt from the statute so you could see that. It's within 90 days of the effective date of the ordinance. There has to be held a landowner election by the CDD. So the landowners, how that works is each landowner gets its one vote per one acre. So if usually the developer owns the most property within the boundary of the CDD. And so that's why they have control over who sits on the board. However, it's possible that they're appointed four and two year terms. So initially it's four and two year terms. Those terms will come up due as open. There'll be another landowner election. It's possible that Lenore sells the property at that time. and the majority landowner are the residents. So that's an additional way that the board could change sooner than six years and 250 people living within its boundary, which is usually the cutoff there. And I just mentioned, I mean, that's a benefit of CDDs too, as opposed to even the city taking over the responsibility for these services, there's no guarantee that city council will own property or be registered to vote. And it's really the people that are sitting on the CDD board that own property are making the decisions for the CDD. The level of assessment, the contractors that the CDD used, it's all controlled by residents within the CDD boundary. I think that's a benefit of having a CDD, even opposed, as opposed to, you know, having city council take over all these services and amenities too. So just wanted to mention that. So I think that wraps up what I was, you know, mentioning. These are the factors the law permits you to consider at this public hearing. But we're here. We've got the project engineer. We've got a representative from Lenora as well as the methodology consultant too. So we're here to answer any questions that you may have.

Okay, thank you, ma'am. If you have any questions, we will call you back later. But in the meantime, this is a public forum. Anyone in the chamber who wishes to address this item may come to the microphone and state your name and address and have three minutes.

How you doing? Joe Fomasi, 2693, Jumping Jack Way. I appreciate, Ms. Strange, thank you for getting that agreement. That was ingenious. He puts things down in the writing. I only have two questions. First of all, the appointed board, if I recognize some of the names, I think they currently sit on the Wellness Ridge CDD. So when it comes to interlocking agreements and the Sunshine Law agreement, I have major concerns about that because, so they're going to be negotiating with themselves. And then on top of that, they all report to the main office down in Lando, the exact same office. You look at their addresses and the person that represents the site of Lennar that turns those projects over the CDD is completed. He also represents in that office. So the ethics laws have carved out a big sidestep for these folks to be able to do this. But the Sunshine Law is very clear, there's no exceptions. So how do you prevent water cooler conversations from happening? What can you tell me to present that? Because Lenar doesn't have to choose out of that particular office. They can actually choose across their mass corporation for people to sit on those boards. So my question is, is I'd like Lenar, after two years, that maybe they should surrender three of their seats. to the citizens. And then that would be a two to three vote. So they would have to convince the citizens every dollar they want to spend, you know, they have to convince them and then it'll be a more fair system, especially since the citizens will be paying more into it after two years. so i hope you consider those and i hope uh mr wall uh i think that i have legitimate concerns about the sunshine law especially when they're located in the same offices have you ever been to a cdd meeting i have it only takes about 30 minutes with eight items a second and a motion and then uh maybe a brief discussion so i am wondering Did those discussions take place before they did the meeting, especially when they all report in the same office? Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else? This is a public forum. Anyone in the chamber wish to address this item may come to the microphone and state your name and address, and I have three minutes. Anyone else? Seeing no one else, I close down chamber. Anyone on the answer? Sir? So, no one online. I close public comment. Bring it back to counsel. What say you, Ms. Strange?

My first question is for Attorney Waugh. Will you please comment on Mr. Fumasi's point about the Sunshine Law and the two...

cdd's having the same boards especially with the idea of the interlocal or the mou and i want to talk to you about that next i have questions about that there's no legal issue which i'm aware of certainly as regarding the sunshine law there are practical theoretical concerns and then there are actual And so, for example, every now and then on boards, local government, city, county, CDD, you might have two or more people from the same business, people who might be best friends. I was on the Orange County Charter Review Commission a few years ago with a couple friends of mine. just made darn sure not to talk about it. That's not to say there aren't practical concerns, like something might come up while you're in the office or somewhere. So I'm not saying that there isn't a possibility of something, but it's purely hypothetical. There's no law that prevents the composition as is. But more importantly, when I look at the statute for petitions to create CDDs, there's several criteria And the subject of what we're talking about is not one of those criteria that can really be factored if it's going to be granted or denied.

My next question relates to this memorandum of understanding. Can you give me a legal opinion on whether an MOU is an enforceable legal document?

I think an MOU can be enforceable depending on its text.

Is this one?

Well, I think yes, but not probably by us.

Okay. What about the residents in each community?

It depends on if they are, well, maybe. I mean, you know, it's that old lawyer answer, maybe.

Would an interlocal agreement be better or a contract? A what? An interlocal agreement or a contract, something along those lines?

Well, it's not created. I mean, I think that's why the language says within 90 days or within a certain amount of time, the MOU would be entered. It can't very well be entered now. It doesn't exist.

But the MOU or an interlocal agreement?

Well, neither. I mean, neither could be entered into right now. Right. I don't know what would be better. I mean, it depends on what the parties want. That's really a question for them.

Here's what my concern has been and has been the water and water moves. Water doesn't care where we draw lines or boundaries. And so my concern is at the end of the day, that whatever the agreement, and in my opinion, the MOU acknowledges that legal rights exist. And so in my opinion, it's useless because those rights exist. I would like to see something in the way of teeth in the agreement so that it can be enforced and that if it requires to be enforced, that attorney's fees be paid by the party seeking enforcement and that the terms of the agreement not be changed without approval of this council.

Right now, the MOU does not include things like indemnification or hold harmless. It doesn't include that. And then it doesn't include, like you're saying, it would just require written consent by both parties right now.

Exactly. I understand the legal issue.

As far as an interlocal agreement, no objection. We actually played with that idea. We were just trying to... put this down in writing and have something to, but no objection at all to an interlocal agreement. If you'd rather do that, that makes sense too. They're both governments. They can enter into an interlocal agreement and we could just do the indemnification language in there that you see in the interlocal agreement that you approved earlier today. Yep. So that would be fine. We could just make that a condition to your, if you're comfortable, a condition to your approval. I would recommend that be in the actual ordinance that you require instead of an MOU to be entered into, that the CDD will be willing to sign an interlocal agreement. So that would be indemnification and then no amendment without city council approval on that.

And you're okay with attorney's fees for the enforcing party?

yes okay my issues are addressed and then if i can just address the the sunshine law issue too so the supervisors even if they're at the landowner uh if landowner elected supervisors so basically the developer there if they violate the sunshine law that they have criminal and civil penalties and there's an attorney myself will be attending those meetings. We take those allegations very seriously. I can assure you the Attorney General Office does as well. So if there's a complaint or there's a concern there that that's being violated, That would be handled by myself or another attorney, and we've had educational seminars with this particular developer before as a precautionary measure to make sure that they don't violate the sunshine law. So that's something that we keep up to date with them. We have an annual memorandum that goes out to all of our city boards, making sure that they understand the seriousness of a sunshine law violation. Okay, thank you.

Mr.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Strange. I had some questions related to MOU or interlocal, and I think we got that clarified. The only other question I had, I asked this of the city clerk, and I'll just ask for the city attorney to give us an opinion, too. In the supplemental, so if we move to approve this, and if we move to approve it as the supplemental ordinance with the new Section 7, do we need to include in that motion to renumber the second seven to eight, eight to nine, nine to 10, 10 to 11. Does that need to be included in the, because there's two sevens in there right now.

In my version, it is changed. The red line version that I have and that you should have received that says section seven memorandum of understanding regarding reciprocal drainage. Does it have that?

Yeah, that's a new section seven, but the old section seven still is section seven on the next page.

The severability and repeal? Yeah. Mine says Section 8.

OK, so our version that we have in the supplemental has a 7.

I imagine it's just not popping up, because there's only one document, I think, that has these changes. Would I? I'm sorry.

Yeah, we don't have a tracking change version.

I see. Well, the thing about it is, The answer to your question is yes.

Okay. So if we want to approve this, we need to make the motion to approve the supplemental ordinance with the renumbering changes. Yes. And potentially the interlocal versus an MOU. Exactly right. Those are the only questions I have. Thank you.

Thank you. Ms. Myers? No. Mr. Peterson?

I mean, the only thing I have to say is... As I'm learning more and more about these different categories, the way I understand the CDD, it shifts the responsibility and costs to the development as opposed to all existing taxpayers. Is that correct?

That's partially true. Partially true.

That's my overhead projection of what it's all about. Okay. Other than that, I'm good.

Okay. I have no questions other than the fact that, yes, ma'am.

When we're ready, I'd like to take a stab at making the motion, if that's okay.

And I have no other statements. Nobody?

No other statement? Okay. The only thing I'm going to say on this, I would like to say kudos to Lenore for taking this out of the, trying to include it in the original CD down there and making these separate CDDs and everything. I think I stated that as one of my concerns way back when you came in before to try to include it. I thought it would be better to go to a separate CDD, and I'm glad to see you decided to do that.

Certainly two different resident profiles. So, yeah, the message was received loud and clear.

Yeah, thank you. I appreciate you doing that. That's all I have.

I move to approve ordinance number 2026-27 with the following changes to renumber paragraph 7 and beyond to include a requirement of an interlocal agreement rather than an MOU being entered within 90 days. The interlocal agreement should include indemnification, hold harmless, attorney's fees for enforcement, a requirement that the interlocal agreement be recorded, and that no changes be made without approval of the Claremont City Council.

Second that.

Okay, we have a motion and a second to approve ordinance number 2026-027 with all the stated changes. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, roll call again. Council Member Strange.

Aye.

Council Member Bain.

Aye.

Council Member Myers. Aye. And Council Member Peterson. Aye. And the Chair vote aye as well. Motion passes 5-0. Thank you. Item number 10 is for consideration resolution number 2026-025R.

A resolution of the City Council of the City of Claremont, Lake County, Florida, granting a conditional use permit to allow for a mixed use development with 12 or more dwelling units in the Central Business District.

All right. Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council members and guests, Nickens Office Development Services. The applicant, Patrick Bianchi, is requesting a conditional use permit to allow for a mixed use development with 12 or more dwelling units in the Central Business District. The property, located at 821 West Mineola Avenue and known as West End Plaza, is located at the southwest corner of West Mineola and 8th Street.

The proposed development consists of four new three-story buildings containing a total of 5,656 square feet of ground floor retail and restaurant space, along with 16 residential dwelling units. Each building will contain four dwelling units, two on the second floor and two on the third floor, each with a minimum area of 580 square feet. The site design also features a central courtyard intended to reinforce the mixed-use character of the district and enhance pedestrian activity along West Mineola Avenue. The existing 7,400 square feet building will remain and be incorporated into the site design and layout. The request is supported by the settlement agreement between the city and the property owner identified as contract 2025-009A, which retroactively amends the comprehensive plan to allow bonus density up to 40 units per acre when a project qualifies under a community benefit agreement. The settlement agreement also exempts the development from minimum parking requirements. The proposed 16 units results in a residential density of 25.2 units per acre, which exceeds the base density of 25 dwelling units per acre threshold, and therefore requires a community benefit agreement. The applicant has identified three public benefits as part of their density bonus request. One, oh, I'm sorry. One would be a public access to the courtyard managed and controlled by the trust, two, public art installations, and three, a sidewalk connection to enhance pedestrian access. The conceptual site plan also includes a covered gallery supported by structural beams extending up to 10 feet into the public right-of-way along both the north and east sides of the project. Due to this structural encroachment, the applicant is required to obtain a right-of-way utilization permit for approval. Staff finds that the request to CUP is consistent with the intent of the Central Business District, supports mixed-use urban infill, and aligns with the city's comprehensive plan by encouraging redevelopment and increased residential density in the downtown core. When evaluating a request for a conditional use permit, the Land Development Code Section 101-212 requires specific development standards that are required to be met. Staff has reviewed the application as submitted in accordance with the development standards criteria and finds a proposed use can meet the general criteria for granting a CEP. The proposed use will not be detrimental to health, safety, and welfare of the surrounding community. The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval 4.1 as presented. Staff recommends approval of Conditional Use Permit Resolution number 2026-025R. That concludes staff's presentation.

Thank you. It's African President.

My name is Patrick Bianchi, 821 West Mineola Avenue. Thank you so much for hearing this tonight. I did go to PNZ last week. I just want to kind of address some of the things that they talked about, because I'm sure it'll come up in questions. One of them is the parking. As you know, there was Objective 1.7, which just pretty much stated that any mixed-use project would be exempt from minimum parking requirements. So, at the time we had went through an iteration or different projects that we thought at the time would be good there. Um, this project is kind of birth from the new comprehensive plan that the city is going through. So you see a lot of Florida vernacular design. Whereas some of you may have seen prior, we were going to use shipping containers, right? So definitely different in aesthetic. Um, so. as we start talking about the new comprehensive plan as we start talking about the walkability the viability of having the ability to live in our downtown to be able to walk to all of these small businesses it kind of i guess went off the light in our head to say okay well let's maybe re-tailor this to one being cohesive with the comprehensive plan and two what is the need currently that we see in our downtown The biggest need that we see is we need more commercial space, period. There's a lot of small businesses that desire to be in downtown, and they just, we don't have the space for them. I talk to them every day, and, well, when's that lease gonna go up? I mean, by the grace of God, my tenants are staying with me, and I've had them for a very long time, but we need more space. So this is an infill opportunity that we want to realize to be able to host those small businesses and also be a mixed use to have the benefit of a resident live in downtown. and be able to go to the bottom floor and drink coffee or shop at a local boutique i think you see this across a lot of successful downtown so that's why we're presenting it the way that we are we are realizing the benefit of that settlement agreement with respect to the community benefit i think we do need to drill down a little bit more about what that benefit is i think there's a benefit to the community and then there's a benefit with an agreement. The art installation, as you may know, West End Plaza had the mural. We've since painted over it, and for intentions, because as you see, we pulled the permit to have the various storefronts. That is going to be integrated with this project. So in the rendering, let me just put it up here. I have the bigger ones next, so that'll be easier. Yeah.

Yeah.

So as you see that back building there with a new mural that will be painted on there is currently the West End Plaza with all of the various storefronts and its location. Art installations can happen pretty much anywhere on the property. That is the one location that I think would be more appropriate for art installation. The other location, if you see this blue box right here, That is the other property that I own, but it's right on the property line, and so another mural could be installed there, or multiple murals, because it is a very deep building. And the courtyard could also have a mural installation, similar to the World Equestrian Center in the shops on 80th. They have a giant statue of an elephant. Something similar could be here as appropriate. The next benefit is the courtyard itself. So, in looking at the design, I could have stayed well within my boundary. I could have put a massive structure on there and gone up and so on. But there really isn't. I know that we talk about micro parks and kind of how all that engages with the community. We thought a courtyard. is the best value add one to this project, but also to the community because it kind of is a gathering place that people can walk to and be a part of something inspiring or cool. I mean, think about what's gonna end up happening here, right? So conversations are gonna happen here that might inspire businesses to be created and so on and so forth. So we're calling it the core. It's really a micro park. to some respects, kids will be able to play here and grow relationships and things like that. So we thought that was a value. The other value, if you look right here, this area, so i know we have been speaking in large part when the art walk was first discussed is that connectivity point from 7th street to 8th street there's like a 10 foot contemplated sidewalk of sorts this actually can be and i'm proposing it to be a continuation of that so this would actually allow for that to be extended and then in the very future, maybe even all the way to West Avenue. So there's a lot of nuance to that, but that is the third public benefit in that regard. Staff did a great job in its report. I think this embodies the comprehensive plan, the mixed use development, and I will field any questions that you might have.

Okay, sir. If we have any questions, we will call you back at a later time.

Thank you.

But at this time, this is a public hearing. Anyone in the chamber with the address decided may come to the microphone, state your name and address, and I have three minutes.

Valerie Shewitt, 931 West Montrose Street. I always say about downtown that I don't want to accept anything less than the best development options. And to me, this is a great picture of some of the best. So just the beauty and the architecture, the way it contributes to the walkability of downtown, and it creates a public gathering space. The way that this is going to contribute to the CRA tax base, I think is going to be huge with the mixed use development, the commercial retail on the first floor, residents on the second floor. And I'm just excited about this. This feels like first fruits of some of the conversations we've been having about what does it take to provoke better development in our city. And I love seeing downtown lead the way. I don't think this has to be exclusive to downtown. I think this is like a seed that's showing us possibilities for future town centers. We do have other opportunities. I mean, imagine the Winn-Dixie Plaza or the Citrus Tower Plaza where there's all this underutilized parking to be able to infill development in those spaces. It would just be so impactful. So I love the way that this is leading the way and it's giving us vision and showing us possibilities, which is what we need.

Thank you. Anyone else?

Good evening, Jenny May, 4062 Greystone Drive. I just wanted to come up as a resident. I didn't have an opportunity to have a statement, because I did have this come forth in front of me at the PNZ, and I was in support. But I wanted to provide a statement as a resident of Claremont for this project. So just wanted to say that I'm here in support, strong support, for this project. My apologies, I just lost what I just wrote. I wanted to make sure it was put on record. Downtown Claremont thrives when we encourage smart, thoughtful, in-field development that champions walkability and builds local vibrancy. This project takes on underutilized site and transforms it into a dynamic asset. By prioritizing pedestrian-friendly design over sprawling footprints, the developer is leading directly into what makes our downtown core special. It supports local commerce, respects our community scale, and adds meaningful energy for the West End. I completely support this, and I want to thank you, Patrick, for bringing this idea and vision to us. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else? Anyone else? This is a public forum. Anyone in the chamber which addresses the item may come to the microphone and state your name and address and have three minutes. I'm seeing no one else. Anyone online? Online caller. Go ahead. All right.

You're welcome to speak now.

Okay. Well, while you try to work on that and she still wishes to speak, we're going to go ahead and move on, but we will come back to her later. Hold on. Okay. Yes. Go ahead.

Hi, I'm Tammy Nelson. Can you hear me now?

Yes, ma'am.

I live at 838.

was Montrose, which is right next to the alley behind his building, which is West End Plaza. I guess that's the way you call it. Since that has opened, that alley has been filled with garbage, debris, broken construction materials, waste, the thigh-to-waist thighweeds, impassable for walkers and i'm wondering what the garbage situation is going to be like once a building is built there for residents because the garbage situation now or up until a few days ago because i guess the city started doing something in there has been an eyesore and a horrible myth that no one has tended to or maintained. That's number one. And number two is this corridor between 8th Street and West Avenue. That is private property behind the post office. It's my property and Davis' property. So I'm wondering what kind of corridor are you talking about that could go through there?

Okay.

And I guess at the moment that's about all.

Okay. Thank you, Ms. Nelson.

We have one more.

Go ahead, next caller. Did you get it?

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes.

Hey, this is Jay Brian Miles, first-time caller, long-time listener. I'm here on behalf of a board member for Claremont Main Street. And this is a great project. This is exactly what downtown means. And we've really got some forward developers that want to bring in what I would consider to be a significant investment into downtown for both residents, resale, business, all the above. So I won't take up too much more time, but I definitely wanted to voice my support for the developer's project and, I mean, just downtown in general. So please consider going with the staff recommendation and approving this request, please. And that's all. Thank you for allowing me

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Jay.

Any other way?

No other? So if no other, we'll close down public comment and bring it back to Ms. Strange.

I'm going to have questions for the applicant and staff. Probably the design, I don't know what we call them anymore now, the development, planning, and zoning team And I'm going to have a question for probably Mr. Norris so that you can prepare. So, Mr. Bianchi, do you believe that this project is beautiful?

Absolutely.

I believe it's beautiful. I would be interested if somebody did not believe that it's beautiful. And I bring that up because I actually believe that adding beauty to our city is a worthy goal. That which is good is both true and beautiful. And so you have to have beauty in order to have goodness. And so one of the things that I consider to be a community benefit is that this project is actually beautiful. And Mr. City Attorney, I don't want that to be left out of the community benefit agreement. And so Mr. Norris, I'm probably going to ask you to help us identify what are the elements of this design that objectively make it beautiful so that those can be included in the community benefit agreement. Are you okay with that? i am um the next is um do you believe that this project would connect people who are at downtown water not waterfront park but the waterfront like the salt shack to montrose street might it draw people up towards our main downtown street absolutely and i would even include the trail in that i mean people that come from winter garden the trails right there would you be comfortable including that as part of the community benefit agreement yeah as you see fit sure I appreciate you bringing out the point about the small business commercial space that was not included in the community benefit. Are you comfortable including that in the community benefit agreement?

Sure.

And then your reference to creating the opportunity of extending the art walk from 7th and 8th, the East-West art walk that we're working on. Um, potentially I consider that a community benefit. Would you, do you consider a community benefit as well? And would you include it in the agreement?

I do with the understanding that obviously I have no control over the seventh and eighth.

And I'm okay with that qualification. Mr. City attorney, as we're drafting this, that the community benefit agreement reference it without making it a requirement. But if it's a possibility, I would like it to be a requirement.

Yeah, that land there is going to be there for the benefit of the public should the city realize that connectivity, which I think is appropriate. I mean, even by way of eminent domain, I think it's absolutely appropriate. And that land will be there for that.

But the idea, if I'm understanding it, is there is a planned art walk running east-west from 7th to 8th. And what you and I believe we're talking about is extending that.

Extending it, absolutely.

Even if it doesn't go all the way to west.

Correct, yes.

Extending that. Correct, yes. There's paragraph 10 of the resolution says that the permit will become null and void if substantial work is not begun within two years. I don't know yet the definition of substantial work that is going to be one of my questions for staff And then my follow-up question to you will be is is there any shorter period of time that you can tolerate?

I think Substantial work has been defined already.

Can we define it so he can answer my question in the city code?

I think it has been okay. Yes, we did I

I thought we did. Yes. We recently did.

Yeah, we recently defined that in the city code. Usually it's either the footers or if you're going vertical, and I think Mr. Bianchi brought this up or Mr. Powell, if you add a second story, an existing building, it's the framing members. So it just can't be dirt scratched. There is a substantial investment in time in that actual inspection that's going to take place. And usually it's the footer or the framing. But it is in the code.

I think in that code we also put some statement there for continuous work as well. Because we had a problem where they would start and they would stop.

I believe the continuous work is in there as well. I'd have to double check that, though.

But in order to get to that point, theoretically, they would need the permit. Correct. And that's going to expire if they don't, you know.

I'd like to stay on the same track, if that's okay. So understanding the definition of substantial work, can you tell this council the shortest time period that you could tolerate and if you need it phased in? Okay.

Um, so in large part, I kind of already started with the existing structure, right? So that this is all going to be part of it in phases. I think I'm a little hesitant about earlier one because of the right away utilization. I don't know what that looks like. Um, I, I. Okay. There's some Comcast discussions with respect to utilities. They may come on Mineola. They may come on Montrose. So I think there's a lot of infrastructure discussions. There's water, there's sewer, there's gas. There's a lot there. If you notice on the north side of this project, you see all the parking alongside there? That doesn't exist today. In fact, because there's a ginormous curb cut for vehicles currently for the parking lot, That is in the public right away. In my view, that would be eradicated and you can add more parking there. So I think with that, there's a lot of nuance that the timing really isn't on me, although I'm willing to have these conversations at a rapid pace. So I think what they have currently is. makes sense but i'm going to start as soon as possible because we have a need and and that's you know my position currently is there any other metric that we could agree to so that we and the public can see movement on this that doesn't meet the substantial work what would you propose

Well, I'm not in development, so I don't have the answer to that.

Because in my mind, I'm already doing the thing on the existing building, right? So I'm setting that up. I've already pulled permits. I've already gotten the doors in. Probably my next move is the courtyard. So maybe the courtyard finish within one calendar year. We could do that. I'd be amenable to that.

And that's part of the community benefit agreement? Sure. Stay with me. I'm making notes.

Well, I think that's... Oh, okay. But the condition is a part of the CUP.

Yes, exactly. That's what I'm asking is if we can add that to the CUP. Are you comfortable if as part of the resolution, because I look at this and I think, okay, what if you're a bad guy and you want to take advantage of the city and do a bait and switch and put a beautiful picture up and then build us a box? And I go, those are projects. That's what I look at. That's my thought process.

Sure.

So I see this and I'm wondering if you are comfortable including in the resolution as a requirement of this construction, the gallery, it's not called a gallery. Is it a gallery? What's it called?

It's a gallery.

The, the galleries, which are the overhangs, I would call them a stoa, but they have a different name, the galleries, the balconies on the building. So they're not flat fronted buildings. They've got balconies. The rooftops have a different shape to them. They're not flat. They actually have one has a turret. Is that right?

Yeah.

The first one, the building C and then one has some sort of Spanish style. Um, I didn't even know how to write turret, but that's what I wrote. The doors and windows have some sort of relationship. This is incorporating what's making it beautiful, and this is what I want to incorporate into the resolution, that it will have these measurements that make it look beautiful. There's landscaping, you've added parking, and there are public walkways. All of these are things to me that make this a benefit to the community, therefore justifying the additional density that you're asking for. Are you comfortable with everything that I've said?

Yeah, I know you have to err on the side of caution or be cautiously optimistic. I would suggest that anything that I brought before council, I've actually done, right? Well, I'm a pessimist, so I'm usually not optimistic. That's what I'm saying, cautiously optimistic. Yes, if you want to somehow incorporate the design, the building layouts, and how the relationship amongst them... Absolutely. I mean, I didn't design this to be pretty pictures.

Just to jump in a little bit. I mean, some of this is already incorporated into the CEP. So if you'll look at the language being put on the projector here, numbers three and four in particular, the project shall be developed in substantial accordance with the design set that was submitted and that you've seen as part of this. Yeah.

I know, but unless you don't like it, no, I would like more specifics. OK, that's why I'm asking for it, because I've seen projects that have a pretty picture and then they get built and everybody says, who the heck approve that? And I don't want to be those people who overpromise and underdeliver. So I believe you are planning on doing this and I believe you plan on do what's in that picture. And so I just want to put that in writing. And if you're comfortable that now, I don't know if this is a question for Mr. Bianchi. But paragraph five says the conditional use permit must be executed and processed by the city clerk's office within 90 days. But is that for him to do or is that for our staff to do?

Both. It's a requirement.

Do we need 90 days or can we do that faster?

I think that's statutory.

That's statutory. It's in the code.

So we can't do it faster?

I mean, it can. Absolutely. It can be done faster. I just can't. We can't.

I'll sign it right here.

We can't deviate. Yeah.

I'd like to say I just don't want it to be a staff issue. So and then this is for staff. This is definitely for staff. My question is this process that the resolution requires him to go through or the applicant to go through the site review committee and the fire marshal will have. an opportunity and the city building inspector will have an opportunity. I want to make sure that nothing in this picture is evidently from the beginning, obviously going to violate some sort of code or some sort of requirement. In other words, what he's showing us is something that we will approve in the site plan process. And if not, I wanna address it today and not have it be something that a year from now, the developer is calling me and saying, well, I had this pretty picture and your staff won't let me do it. So what do we see as the potential problems with the pictures that he's shown that could be a problem in site plan?

So in terms of site plan, it's more than nuts and bolts with dimensions, stormwater, fire flow calculations, construction type. And these pictures don't tell us any of that. So when he goes to site plan, he's going to have a lot bigger set of plan set for all the staff to look at. And based on fire code, Is he gonna put sprinklers in the building? These are some questions that we won't be able to answer till that level of detail is provided. And I see Chief Azell's here, and he may be able to go into some of that as well. I appreciate it.

Yeah, I had an opportunity to review the conceptual plans with the fire marshal. We did identify some buildings where if you went strictly off of what was written in the fire code, there would be some issues. But looking at the intent of what the code is trying to accomplish, there are ways we can achieve that. So as it's planned out, I mean, we'll have to get into the details once we have a full set of plans, but we're not seeing anything that would cause us to shut down the project from a fire prevention standpoint. We think this is something that could be taken all the way through to fruition.

Okay, thank you. And then my last question is actually for the applicant. The caller said that we had a garbage situation with your existing property. Can you please speak to that for this council?

Yeah, I would love to address that. The property, well, the property that's next door that she's referencing, I don't even own. But the other thing that she is referencing, which is that back corner, if you will, a point in this section here. I mean, that's partially the issue with having large parking lots and open spaces as I constantly have to keep monitoring people dropping couches. I had a bloody mattress at one point that I had almost turned over to evidence. But you have these 15 to 20 different 95-gallon receptacles, and it's very difficult. more than likely things are going to be placed outside and not be picked up by constantly having to call brian at the city and by the way the sanitation department is fantastic and when we have these issues he is on it i call stoney he's on it and so we do have a problem there that's why i gave the land to the city on that back corner for the trash Area, and there is a temporary agreement that we have where the city put a dumpster back here. So that is in place. Now. Um, we have an sign I should say for this area here. Um, Christian, I have been in communication about actually eating that over. Um, and that'll happen very shortly. Um, so the trash situation was an issue, um, and it is constantly being mitigated and managed. I can't control who put stuff there. Um, but you know, we do react as fast as we possibly can. So that won't be a problem.

And my last question is probably for Mr. Waugh as well as the applicant, which is talk to us briefly, please, about the right-of-way utilization permit as these galleries extend over what I believe is a public sidewalk. So if you can just advise us on that and how that's done.

I mean, typically the city will use a right-of-way utilization agreement very similar to kind of the hold harmless agreements that you have approved in other contexts with like variances. If we're gonna allow variance, if we're gonna allow some kind of construction or development that deviates from the norm, whether it's the code or your right-of-ways, then the person you're authorizing to do that needs to bear some risk. um risk of utilities that we might have under there needing to be serviced or addressed that's not going to be our problem that's going to be their problem but the right-of-way utilization permit will be permission from the city to allow this subject to those kinds of conditions if that makes sense like we shouldn't be prejudiced with our infrastructure by allowing this right

And I will say that one of the questions that came up at PNZ and conversations I have with the public is related to those peers. And if you look right here, you see parking. Well, the question is, okay, is a car subject or susceptible to hit a peer, right? And in that event, what happens? The Florida Building Code does address this, by the way. So if anything is going to be in close proximity or at least appear or imply that a vehicle is going to be anywhere near it, it must meet certain requirements. So that requirement, if you park in a garage and you have a ballard next to your water heater, that's where that code applies right so it either has to have the horizontal load capacity to be able to take that impact or there has to be some sort of buffer barrier so let's say a precast raised bed garden something that creates that buffer so the florida building code does address that okay okay that's all i have for now i'll reserve comments for later thank you guess remember

Thank you, Mayor. I think I just have a couple of questions. You guys have covered a lot, and I did watch the PNC meeting as well. ground floor units of retail and commercial. So we, I think the report indicates 16 residential dwelling units and 5,656 square feet, but I don't actually, I don't know if I maybe missed it. How many actual commercial resident or ground floor retail commercial restaurant spaces will there be?

Yeah, that is a great question. Mr. Chidona did bring this up in PNZ a little bit, and it's really based on square footage, right? So if you look at what I just put on the screen, you'll see the blue. So it won't be any bigger than what you see there, right? So let's say up to 6,000 square feet of total commercial. But I could, in theory, divide each unit into two. That's what I'm trying to get with the question. Yeah. So I would say at most there could be eight total businesses on the bottom floor because once you start going beyond that, now you have an egress issue, life safety issue. You're going to have – it just becomes complicated with the geometry. So I would say at most you're going to have eight.

Okay.

Yeah.

And the rationale for that question is simply that, in terms of wondering, are we going to have essentially little cubes available for folks, or is this going to be potential opportunities for some larger space to actually provide something that may not be currently provided or could be built upon what's currently provided in the downtown area?

Sure. If you don't mean you know my projects, you know that I own the Montreux Street Market, which is a business incubator, if you will, takes them out of a food truck, puts them in what a lot of people consider a postage stamp, but a brick and mortar nonetheless, and allows them to execute their passion at a high level within a brick and mortar location. And then... They grow enough to be able to go to that next step. Well, this is absolutely that next step, which is an individual brick and mortar. I mean, T-Mont and seven, I mean that they are like, I love them to death. They're the poster child of what that looks like. And so this allows and affords that opportunity. So it's not necessarily that a new business is going to come from out of town here. It's that somebody will outgrow the current space that they're in and go here. Yeah. That's the idea.

Okay. I was going to say, I think we have a couple of different exhibit A's and B's with T-Mont and Cosa Nostra that have been success stories. And personally, I hope... Cosa Nostra is another one. Yeah. And Chefin' Up, hopefully, is another one in the future. With regard to... And I think parking was something that was talked about at PNC. And I know it's been something that I've addressed in some questions. So with regard to when the project's constructed and you're going out to advertise the retail commercial space and also the residential space, How do you go about talking about what parking is going to be like and be available for the people who occupy these spaces?

Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, parking has been a conversation for, I mean, since I've been here in 2016 downtown, um, the garage is an absolute conversation. This may push it. There was a study done in 2024, um, that talked about the inventory of downtown and what that looked like and the stresses Of certain events, and what it does to the inventory of downtown 1st, Friday being the worst of it. Right? And in terms of parking, we sense move that. So we don't have that stress. Um, this particular lot was talked about the. The surplus, if you take that surplus and then you remove the parking calculation in that, it shows that it's de minimis. Now, we can all argue about traffic engineers and how all that. How they use that one.

Yeah, their computations.

But there's a real practical discussion that I've said, even as Main Street has said, that says, hey, we might consider the two-hour parking. We might consider parking overnight, what that looks like, you having a parking pass. There are residences in downtown that currently live there above the downtown exchange and otherwise that park on the street overnight. These are real things that are happening, not just with this project and will in the foreseeable future happen. So I think there needs to be a global conversation about parking solutions, what shared parking looks like, especially within the comprehensive plan ride share. I mean, there's all these conversations that we have to talk about. So. Let's say in two years' time, I'm ready to lease them out. The conversation, one, I own the parking lot to the south of that as well. But hopefully, we have some implementation of either a garage structure, some more partnerships with respect to surface parking that may bridge the gap between that and a structure, or and... some level of parking agreement where it comes with a pass and you pay $1,000 a year and you get a sticker on your window and you can park and mobilize wherever you want. Those kinds of things need to be discussed. There's no one answer to that. It's a global conversation and a global solution that just, we've talked about it. We just need to start implementing it.

Thank you. And I do have some comments, but I'll save those for the comment section. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Myers.

Good evening, Mr. Bianchi. I had a question about your court. It puts me in, can I see the picture again that you put up, the bigger one?

Oh, it's the first one. Yeah. Well.

Yes, you got it.

Yeah, but I also want to show you, so we actually have different iterations when we submit a design packet. That one is probably the most expensive and dense one, but it has a pavilion. So I'll put this up for conversation.

um it reminds me but way better but it reminds me of um downtown winter garden by the hungry bison with the open space you know what i'm talking about um is that kind of the idea that you were thinking where people can just hang out talk kids can play you know that kind of thing just connect with your neighbors just and enjoy the different restaurants that i imagine you will have in there

There's a lot of similarities there. That's not – because I'm always like we're better than Winter Garden. Yeah.

But yes, it's prettier, way better, but I'm just saying the concept.

That's a trigger word for me as a Claremont developer. But yes, I see a lot of similarities. It has the same – I go to cities all over the place that have these communal micro parks. Jekyll Island also has this. If you go to the travel to the Golden Isles, you will see that in one of their islands. I mean, they're all over and executed well. I mean, it just makes for a better quality life here.

I think it does. And I'm just excited about it. And thank you for your vision that you have. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Peterson.

I mean, I have to ditto what Councilman Strange said. It's a beautiful building. It'll be a building that people will want to come to. And it also enforces the strong town approach that we've all been, you know, after because it's going to put walkability. People are going to be able to, let's say people live in the apartments, they could be working in their business below so they don't have to travel. It's going to increase decrease the amount of traffic that's going to be generated by that. And I think you've addressed some of the parking, but obviously as we're getting more and more traffic coming in, we're going to have to address that pretty soon as to where are we going to do it and when are we going to get the parking garage in for those. A lot of people have said, you know, for parking, we could institute a meter type of thing where, you know, in other towns that have that, like you would, I think, address the pay of whatever amount of money you pay and you have it stickered. I mean, it does require enforcement, but it's going to be something that we're going to have to address. Nobody wants to do that now because, you know, it gives a bad taste that you've got to have meters and, you know, not meters per se, because it's way above that now with electronics and everything like that. But I just want to say I love the project. I think it's really good. I think you've addressed a lot of the things as opposed to just four boxes. We have a garden in the middle. I think it's really good. And I think it is good that we go from, you know, we need to have an incubator for business. I remember another meeting or two before somebody had said, you know, what are we doing to to stimulate business and coming in here? And, you know, we were talking about food trucks at that time because that's, you know, the initial step. Then you go to brick and mortar. I have friends of mine. His son did a. He was a smoker, you know, a smokehouse place, you know, where they have ribs and things. He did it in Seattle. Now he has five brick and mortar restaurants. But he started with the trailer in the middle of a parking lot. So I think this is a great way to start. I just want to say I'm 110 percent for it. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. I would say thank you. with a giant leap forward from the containers and everything. Because you remember that. I remember the containers. I wasn't too thrilled with them. But this is a great improvement. I really liked it. I'm being real concerned about this whole project. It means concern. which I think was addressed earlier, was the pillars in the right-of-way. I think Mr. Warr pretty much cleared it up for me because my concern with that is we allow you to put these pillars in the right-of-way when we have to go in there for... for our utility work we have to do. Who's responsible for them pillars? Any damage to them or anything like that, the city's going to be responsible and everything. But I think you cleared that up for me. So that was my main concern there. The parking, I understand. I know we did a change in code last year. Was it last year, year before last, whatever? to address the parking in situations like this that allow you to be able to expand down there without having to really provide parking. So that's why I think I'm in the process now of really trying to look at the parking garage and why we did what we did with the parking garage a couple weeks ago and trying to get a study done and see what we can do. For sure. That's all I have. Thank you so much. Thank you from jumping away from the containers. Thank you. You're very welcome.

entertain a motion or anybody else have any any statements yes i have comments um first i want to disclose that i spoke to mr bianchi back when he had the shipping containers concept it was not my favorite

It was not beautiful. Boxy Park was fun.

But it was fun. It was fun. And fun is good. But I do think that in this case, the time has turned into it has turned into a much better project, a good project for the city. This is certainly better. And while I commend your creativity and the thought process on the containers. Um, I also did as much as I could to read comments from people on many different sources from the newspaper websites to social media, just trying to get a feel for the public. And what I got from the public was two kinds of people. And maybe there's a third, but I saw two kinds and one was, oh my gosh, you've got to be kidding me. This is amazing. And then I got, we don't want any more development. And that's what I saw. And I think that that is going to be the struggle, if you will, for Claremontians as we move through the next decade, 20 years, is there is good development, meaning true and beautiful development that will make our community better. And then there is development that will only exacerbate the problems that we have. And on the issue of traffic, because that's number one issue, right? I think that really we keep bouncing around the proverbial chicken or egg scenario. Do we have enough parking to build these businesses and to build these residences? Or do we have enough residences to justify the cost of the parking? And someone has to take a step forward. And so I applaud your courage in taking a step forward without having all the questions answered, because that is extraordinarily risky. And that spirit of entrepreneurship is what I think is going to move Claremont into the next 20 years is people willing to, as I've heard Mr. Norris say at the comp plan meetings, handle chaos and risk and be willing to move forward when it's not certain. And so I'm personally in support of this. I think that if this is approved by the council, I think what we're doing is letting the public know that Claremont is open for good development. We want to see this. And I would like to see projects like this. across Claremont, not in every neighborhood, but in the places where town centers and commercial development is appropriate and can supplement and make life better for all Claremontians. I think Wellness Way can look at this type of development and say, yep, we want that. And once the first one is done, which is why I'm pushing you so hard to develop it as fast as you can, it's going to really make it easier for other people who don't have to be as courageous. So I'm going to be in support of this one tonight.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Bianchi. This is an infill project that is going to provide an aesthetic for our historic downtown. And I emphasize historic downtown because when you look at the designs that are being proposed here, it oozes history. And I challenge you to present and build and develop buildings that people look at and say, there's no way this was just built. Because that's, I think, what the potential is here for not only this project, but then as a catalyst for future projects. I don't like overuse of this phrase, but this project really promotes the philosophy of that live, work, play concept. And it's an overused catchphrase, but I think that this is probably one of the finer examples we've seen of that come before us. And I'm going to be very honest. I kept finding myself wanting to, not you, but because you're the developer presenting this, hold you accountable for the parking. But you know what, that's not on you. The city, the council has not taken actions or enough actions to provide and to look at the longevity of and the future of parking in downtown Claremont. And to Mr. Peterson's point, at some point, we are going to need to entertain how we park on our streets, the directions, the directional piece of that parking, how long we allow for parking, will there be meters? What kind of lots are we going to have? Is it going to be staff lots? Is it going to be open parking lots? Is it going to be paid lots? Is it going to be lots where we sell permits for people who live downtown? All of those things at some point will have to be discussed. And that's not on you necessarily as the developer of this project. I also really had to get over the fact that you were being grandfathered into the parking situation that you were grandfathered in. And I can't hold that against you. It's an agreement that the city entered into prior to me being on this council. But it is an agreement. And my obligation is to uphold that agreement and not allow... my maybe personal feeling on that piece of that to there. So all that being said, I can't find a reason not to support this. In fact, I find multiple reasons to actually champion it. So thank you. And I look forward to voting for it.

Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Myers.

I hope that when this building is totally finished and the courtyard and everything is up, that it will inspire other developers who have pieces of property down here, downtown and throughout the city of Claremont to rethink how they have theirs and to inspire them to come up with something as beautiful as what you have done. I hope that you will be the catalyst for that. And thank you for bringing the idea to us.

Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Peterson.

I think we've kind of said it all. I mean, everybody loves the project. And I think this, by you doing this, I think it is going to precipitate other people from copying when they see how successful this will be. You know, it'll bring us into a new era where we're going to be really a strong town. We're going to be doing the walkability. And, you know, with that being said, I'd like to propose that we accept resolution number two. Excuse me, sir. Too soon?

Point of order, the mayor still gets to comment. Thank you. Thank you. Not that I have much to add, but I forgot to address one thing earlier. Ms. Strange, you was talking about the aesthetics and the looks of the building and everything. You know you can put in a COP that once he do everything, he has to come back to the council for approval for the aesthetics and the look of the building. if you want to include it in your CUP. Okay.

Well, I appreciate that. I think if these items are in the resolution, I'm comfortable. Okay. If the litany that I gave him that he had to stand up here and not to.

I'm just saying, I think you used the word bait and switch. No, I appreciate it. If you're concerned with that, you can put it in there that when he did pick out all the statics and everything that he'd come back to the council for.

Yeah.

Okay. But that's all I have to add. Okay. It's up to you.

Oh, then let me make the motion.

Okay.

Okay. If you're all comfortable with it, I would like, I moved to approve item number 10, resolution 2026-2025R with the following edits. Of course, I've lost this. For purposes of the community benefit agreement, adding item number four, that the project adds objective beauty using the Florida vernacular to the community benefit. Item number five, that it creates a connection between Waterfront and Montrose downtown. Item number six, that it adds small business commercial space to the downtown inventory. And item number seven, that it creates the opportunity for connectivity of the East-West Art Walk between 7th and 8th Street with some sort of requirement that I'll let our attorney Handle that if the opportunity presents itself it must be complied with in addition that the design elements in the resolution include reference to galleries balconies rooftops the turret the door and window dimensions landscaping Parkway parking and walkways as identified in the documents provided by the applicant and then under paragraph 10 to add completion of the courtyard within one year of the date of issuance of the conditional use permit. And if the property transfers ownership prior to completion of the site plan, that the final plans come before this council for approval.

Okay. Well, I mean.

Can we get a second before we talk about it? Yeah, sure. Because it might die. If you want, yeah. It might die. So is there a second?

What was that, Mr. Wall? A second now. Okay. We got a second.

Okay. I guess normally if you're going to condition ownership, you know, as part of it, Um, you, you can do that. Um, it's just the city council has to find that that's a compelling, there's a compelling need for it. You know, so for example, there's a CUP for like, uh, I don't know, some like life-saving thing that only the company can provide that service. Then it makes sense. However, there are scenarios here where it could be possible that a developer, I don't know what your plans are, but developers often assign to different entities that they remain in control of, but it's not necessarily a change in control, if that makes sense. It's a change in entity sometimes. So, I mean, are you?

Yes, that's one of my questions. So I currently have it in a land trust. Because of financing, I'm most likely going to take it out of a land trust, put it in an LLC kind of thing. There was also 1031 reasons why I did it. But I want to be careful on that because is that considered a change of ownership? It is. The way that you're presenting it, right? So I'd be cautious of that. Now, you could say that I remain in common control. I'd be okay with that.

Well, I don't know if I want to get into what you own and how you own it. My concern is you're president of main street. You, as you stand, Patrick Bianchi is president of main street, a developer downtown. We know you probably every one of us has talked to you at some point. If you sell it to someone that we don't know, again, my job is to protect citizens of Claremont. And so, um, I hate to require the applicant to come back again. as long as these conditions are met, but also if it's a different person, there's a good faith element here. You got the cheering crowd in the back, right? But what if someone who's not connected to this community comes in? How do we handle it?

Well, for one thing, I think that you'd have to accept that kind of a condition.

Well, and also too, just remember that even if I were to sell the property tomorrow, they could build under your new code something less beautiful less impactful right you know you do have certain code provision even in the grandfathering set aside like right now i could do a one-story retail only be exempt from parking and you know what i mean so i would say that could this project is going to happen but the thing is like to your point if it were to sell they wouldn't necessarily build this because it's expensive. I bought that property, let's say, right. Okay, so this makes sense for me on a Performa. Whereas if I sell it, it would no longer make sense as a developer, right? So they would more likely build something different and not even deal with the CUP at all. So that's something that I would be, I don't know if that restriction makes sense.

I would think if you sold it, they would, like you say, would build something different. They would have to come back to council for a new CUP because they would probably be looking at something totally different or build something more in line with our code.

CUP is generally saying, this one does too, where it says you could do all these things. And if you don't do all these things, you could also do whatever is in the central business district code at the time. Right. Right. So something like that. I'm paraphrasing, of course, but it probably does say something to that effect. So that would allow them to apply the existing code or even the code now differently and not have to come back before you at all. Right.

I understand that. What's the best way to is having him come back? reasonable? Is it too much of a burden? What is the best way to handle it?

I think I've been consistent. I mean, this has been raised, I don't know, three or four times since I've been city attorney, and my advice is always the same. I think it's a hard thing to get by legally unless there's what I call a really life safety concern regarding who's doing it.

Having them come back?

No, just for conditioning a CUP on...

Oh, change of owner. So that's what I'm saying. If we take that out, is it better to have him come back once he's gone through site plan? Or, I mean, we've beefed this up pretty good. For what?

We also, that's part of our role as staff to go through the site plan with every applicant. So that's something we do all the time. So we're very comfortable. we understand clearly what you want so i think since we do the day-to-day operation you ought to consider allowing us to do that because i'm very comfortable doing that so bill all in the motion scratch strike the last part about requiring him to come back everything else being the same okay

I'll second that revision. If appropriate, can I ask about the waterfront? The way you worded it almost alluded to that I somehow have to make sure that it's connected. How do I do that?

What I was referring to is the look of the building draws people. You can see it from the street, for example. And it's drawing people. Like right now, your existing building, you can't see it from the street. So nobody's walking towards it or interested in it.

I just can't guarantee when somebody looks at it, they'll walk up. Like, how do I? Can you play with the language, Christian? I don't understand. There's going to be someone with a lasso.

Yeah, you're flashing. That would work. Yeah.

I understood all your other conditions. That's one I also had a question about.

So let's take that one out if you're feeling the same way. I mean, it does do that, but I think the other one's addressed. So connecting it, Waterfront to Montrose.

I mean, you said Objective Beauty. Yep. Impossible, of course. No such thing. No, it's not impossible. All right.

We can have that debate. Commercial space and connectivity, but the 7th and 8th East-West Art Walk, in addition to the three that were already identified. So six.

That I got.

Six community benefits. So six community benefits, building the courtyard within a year, and itemizing the things, describing the items in the visuals, the gallery, balconies, rooftops, the turret, the ratio of the doors and windows, landscaping, additional parking, and walkways. Second. Second, okay, got it.

All right, we had a motion. All right, we did second, hold on to amendment. And I hope, Mr. Clerk, you got all that, because I cannot repeat it all. Anyway, we do have a motion. I have the notes, if needed. And a second. Any more questions? With all the stated changes, is there any further discussion? No. Hearing none, all in favor, let it be known by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? And the chair vote aye as well. Motion passes 5-0. Thank you so much. Good luck. Good luck, sir. ITEM NUMBER 11, 12, 13, AND 14 ARE INTRODUCTIONS, OKAY? I need to know for this council before I go to 11 and 12, are we going to allow public comment or do you just want to go right straight through?

Mr. Mayor, we actually talked about this at the meeting and we said unless a council member wants to propose a substantive change that the city attorney says that we need to do at the first, that we would just read it as an intro and not have any comment.

Well, I guess I'm what I'm trying. Well, we'll do one at a time and we'll take it up as it goes. I have no substantial changes. As long as we're okay with that.

To any of them, I don't have a substantial change.

Okay.

I don't either.

Okay. On none of them?

None of them.

Okay. Well, let's go through them. Let's start with item number 11, ordinance number 2026-029, intro land development code amendment.

An ordinance of the City Council of the City of Claremont, Lake County, Florida, amending Chapter 101, Article 2, Division 3, Section 101, 104, granting of variances to establish procedures for the review and approval of administrative adjustments to allow minor adjustments or modifications from certain dimensional or developmental conditions. standards of the land development code providing for conflict, severability, codification, administrative correction of scrivener's error, publication, and an effective date.

Okay. Entertain a motion.

I'll move ordinance number 2026-029, intro. Second.

I have a motion and a second for the introduction to ordinance number 2026-029. Any further discussion? If none, all in favor, let it be known, saying aye. Aye. All opposed? Chair vote as well. Motion carries 5-0. Item number 12, ordinance number 2026-030, intro.

An ordinance of the City Council of the City of Claremont, Lake County, Florida, imposing a 180-day moratorium on the submission, processing, approval, or issuance of any new development orders or permits for any retail use that supports vaping retail shops, providing for conflict, severability, the administrative correction of scrivener's error, publication, and an effective date.

I'll move ordinance number 2026-030, intro. I second.

I have a motion and a second to intro ordinance number 2026-030. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor let it be known by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? And share vote aye as well. Motion carries 5-0. Item number 13, ordinance number 2026-031.

An ordinance of the City Council of the City of Claremont, Lake County, Florida, establishing a temporary moratorium on certain medical cannabis activities, including cultivation, processing, manufacturing, dispensing, distribution, and sale of medicinal, marijuana, low THC cannabis, and related products, establishing a temporary moratorium on the acceptance, processing, approval, opening, relocation, and expansion of Medical Marijuana Treatment Center dispensing facilities within the city, providing for penalties, providing for conflict, severability, administrative correction of scrivener's error, publication and...

I'd like to make a motion to accept Ordinance Number 2026-031, intro.

I second.

I have a motion and a second for the intro of Ordinance Number 2026-031. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, let it be known by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? Chair vote aye as well. Motion carries 5-0. Item number 14, ordinance number 2026-032, intro.

An ordinance of the City Council of the City of Claremont, Lake County, Florida, imposing a temporary moratorium on the acceptance, review, or approval of applications for development permits, development orders, rezoning, or site plans related to data centers and data processing facilities, data mining, or cryptocurrency mining operations, referenced herein collectively as data center facilities within city limits of the city of Claremont, adopting findings, providing for the study and development of appropriate land use regulations, addressing such data center uses, providing for conflict, severability, administrative correction of scrivener's error, publication, and effective date.

I'll move ordinance number 2026-032, intro. Second.

I have a motion and a second for intro of ordinance number 2026-032. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, let it be known by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? Chair vote aye as well. Motion carries 5-0. Item number 15, we took care of earlier, so we go to reports. Mr. Van Wagner.

one item for us today the temporary site offered by olympus is still not ready so we negotiated with integra to occupy occupy one of their carriage houses at santee apartments and they've waived the first six months of rent for us and thereafter we have a decision if we'd like to continue if necessary and that would be thirty six hundred dollars for both units a month if we choose to do that but we are not obligated at this point we have a six month lease

Combined $3,600 or each?

Each month.

So $7,200 a month or $3,600 a month?

I'm sorry, $3,600 a month.

That's for the entire building, both units. Which building is that? It's one of their carriage houses. It's two one-bedroom apartments that are on the second floor. On the first floor, they have four single-car garages. So it kind of perfectly meets our needs down there for being able to store the equipment that we need to. And the crews are actually really comfortable. They're right next to the clubhouse, and they have use of the amenities there. Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

Great solution. Thank you.

That's all I have.

Mr. Wall. Just one thing, Mayor, and that's to remind the council that you have a shade session next week at 2 p.m. to discuss the foul zone litigation. There have been some recent developments that are good for the city. And just, you know, by way of reminder, we'll have a court reporter. The transcript from that meeting will become available after the litigation. Thank you.

Okay. Council Member Bain.

Thank you, Mayor. So this is our first meeting with the new process. I think it worked relatively well. I think maybe one thing as we get through a couple of the meetings, we may want to think about, does it make sense to do the round of Q&A and then the round of statement? Or does it just make sense to say, okay, here's my Q&A and then start the timer for my statement. And then we go to the next person, next person. I don't know whichever one, but I think we'll figure that out. But I appreciate all the council members' participation in that and moving that to see if we can try to expedite and increase the participation and understanding of what happens here. With regard to report, I do have a question for city staff. I thought in the minutes, or I saw something in the minutes about coming forward, I thought at this meeting, but maybe it's next meeting, the 50,000 authorization and source for the technical advisory committee for the parking structure, are we going to have that? We required that to come back to us according to the minutes, and I just don't know when that's coming for us. I don't wanna delay the process, the intent behind the question.

It should be coming on the next meeting.

Okay, thank you. And then the only other question I had was related to budgeting. When will we be getting the CRA budget, the 10% reduction budget, and then any revisions to the actual budget that we'll be voting on next month at the workshops, or I'm sorry, at the hearings? And that's all I have for my report then.

Okay, so the, let me see if I can get these in order here. The 10% reduction is actually required by statute to be next year. We have up till next year to actually come back with that 10% reduction is what I'm understanding by reading this.

Wait, I thought when we talked about it at the workshop that we had to do one this year, is that not true?

Yeah, when rereading, I think, excuse me, Scott went to a conference and they were talking a lot about that in the conference and he came back and said that it's actually October of next year. We have to do it by October of next year.

It's my understanding it's October next year where you take this year's budget. Correct. Once you approve this year's budget, before you do next year's budget, you do a 10% reduction to the budget you approved this year.

The bill is effective January.

Okay. All right. That's fine. I just want to make sure. We talked about it.

Yeah. Sorry, remind me of the other question.

The CRA budget, and then how are we handling any revisions to the city budget and getting that to us before those hearings?

So Rick and I have a meeting with Scott tomorrow to go over the where we're at with the budget and how we're going to any any final tweaks we will probably be bringing back to you within maybe not next meeting but the following one is what we're shooting for okay same with the cra yes sir okay thank you councilmember myers

Good evening. I just wanted to say I hope all the students, teachers, staff, bus drivers, cafeteria workers have a wonderful school year as school has started yesterday for Lake County. I also want to remind council of our candidate form that the majority of us agreed upon a few months ago. That will be Monday, September 14th at 6 p.m. Our moderator will be Dora Scheiser. She is the one that did our assessments for us. Her firm will be... providing all of the questions and handling everything for us for our candidates they will she will have five questions for our candidates and then she will take questions from the audience and then there'll be tables set up for the candidates to meet with the citizens who have further questions they would like to ask them where is that it's going to be at the city center and is that for all that's for everyone for everyone who is interested in participating Monday, September 14th, 6 PM.

Okay, cool. Mr. Peterson. One of the things that was mentioned by the public today was crossing guard extension of hours. I don't know who that goes to. You might have a better answer. I mean, it seems like a real reasonable request. for, you know, extend from 3.30 to 4.30. Is that part of PD gets that or?

We've been working on that. Me and the mayor talked about that a little bit ago and we've been working on trying to get that resolved. So I'm working on it. Let me.

Thank you, thank you. That's a county issue. Somebody came up and they were talking about designer drugs that are sold in gas stations. I don't know who we go to that. Is that really go to the state for that? That's not in our purview to to say what's legal and what's not legal. Is that correct, Mr. Watt?

Well, sometimes it is.

I mean, you know, there's, you know, people are always going to come up with another designer drug. And, you know, are we constantly chasing this? There's no way we can ever get ahead. But by the public bringing this information to us, then we can say, well, that's not a good thing to have, especially if it causes death. Death is always a bad thing. It's kind of final. So we should try to eliminate those drugs.

Not for Spock and Star Trek 2, but I do think... To your point, though, I haven't had a chance to look over the materials yet. I'm interested to read the ones that were presented, and I'll be happy to talk to you about them.

Thank you. Lastly, we keep on talking about the Meat in the Middle project. I know they brought that up. It's almost nine months ago we were talking about the first responder pavilion. And I think everybody said, because it's all tied together with the doc and with anything, but I think we brought up, is there a way to split that off and get one portion done? Because we know we did have that million dollar contribution for, you know, to, to do that part over there. So can we get any way to, any kind of date or any kind of real date to give to the people, especially for that, you know, as you know, the veterans are saying they're dying off now. There's only very few World War II veterans left. And, you know, it's something that you feel when they get up to the podium that, you know, we got to do something. And, you know, it's easy to say, well, let's push it off another six months or let's wait till we get this. But I think the pavilion could be something we can really work on. So maybe we could just come up with a real date on just that portion of it. Is that possible?

I can get with Mr. Powell and get some ideas if you'd like me to.

All right. And that's it. All righty. Ms. Strange.

Yeah, from the tourism office, I apologize. I missed it last meeting. I forgot we only had one meeting in July. I did want to report back that the market is changing. People are using AI for about 61% of inspiration for their travel plans. They're only booking with about 8%, but the projection is that that will be something that increases based on the statistics. Here in Lake County, we are seeing a lot of drive-in markets from Miami, Jacksonville, and Tampa. A lot of people are staying close to home, or at least we're seeing an uptick in that. We're also seeing people from New York and Philadelphia, so you know. The county has a couple different video productions. One is called RV There Yet, which is in RV parks here in Lake County and how they're impacting our tourism. Another is called Get Off Track. Which is about our, um, sprinters here in Southlake county. And so kind of cool related to that star athletics, which is actually a Montverde. Um, they are going to be working with Nike to do a three minute episode on the fastest woman in the world. They're trying to break the world record. I think it goes back to the eighties. Someone can correct me if I got that wrong. So Joe. We're trying to, yeah, exactly. Child of the nineties and the song, but just anyway. So the capital fund should be opening up sometime between November, November 2nd, 2026 was what was given to us. There was conversation about January, 2027. I'll get more for that at the next meeting. So it's supposed to come back to the TDC and, And for those on our main street, festivals and family travel are the number one driver of tourism in Lake County in the summer months. So that is actually a target is festivals in the summer. Sporting events are kind of the other nine, 10 months out of the year. But if we can get summer festivals, that is like the sweet spot for Lake County. And that has come out as a new kind of thing. I appreciate the members of the public who have been coming up and engaging in our local politics. I love the public member of the nurse who's doing the research of going to what 27 different places to find out about the drugs that our kids can buy. That's good to know. I'd never heard of Kratom before. You could get me to a moratorium on something like that, I'll be honest. It's too appealing to children, in my opinion. It's too misleading. I don't think that people are making knowledgeable choices when they're buying some of these things that look like energy drinks that could knock you right out. Um, so happy to explore that Mr. Wall, if you have time, um, love the idea of putting on our calendar and national purple heart day and other similar type of days. And, um, on the notices for the public meetings, the, um, Code enforcement. If we could get people to have a type of font that they use on the regular, like the ladies in the grocery store who do the nines the same. I mean, it sounds funny, but seriously, if there could be some sort of font, that would be my input on that as you're working on that. And I'll save the rest for next time.

Okay. Thank you. Mr. Mathis.

I have nothing to add. Thank you, sir.

All righty. Of course, now my report, basically, let me address me just in the middle. Yes, you're right, Mr. Peterson. We did approve that back in October last year, and it's my understanding everything with it is in procurement right now. We're expecting everything back from procurement. Only question I had on it, Mr. Van Wagner, is I'm somewhat expecting back from procurement in September, about the end of September or so, and if we can't get it on the agenda... to look at in October. But I am expecting when it comes back, we'll be doing that in phases, not everything at one time. That's the way I look at the project. And when I talked to Mr. Powell last time, he said most likely it'll be phases and everything. So we'll do it. Crossing guards, where's the crossing guards go? School board is responsible for crossing guards. However, they have contracted crossing guards out to a company. It's another company to handle all the crossing guards for Lake County and everything. So Think I have the contact for that person I met with him even had the luncheon with him the in the school year luncheon with them back in in June and everything so we can we work with them and try to get more crossing the Design of drugs. Mr. Van Wagner. Can you get with the chief at one point in? I know there was a task force that was going around into these smoke shops and different places and everything that was selling. It was actually drugs that was illegal. So I don't know whether we need to get with Chief or somebody else that we set up, go back in there and start doing inspection on these places or not.

Him and I discussed that.

Okay, because I know it's a long list of things out there that's illegal, and they was going in and taking them off the shelves of some of these places at one point. So if we need to do that again, let's do it. Last thing I have, we are and we have been designated as a Purple Heart City for a number of years now. they came in the organization came in and they designated gave us a flag and we should have a flag and everything around here where we pull the flag on a certain day of the year uh i don't uh i don't know whether where it's at and everything so mr van wagner if you can look into all that and let's let's make sure we utilize that uh uh purple heart yeah The organization came in, and about, I guess, four years, maybe five years ago, they designated us as the Purple Heart City, and presented us with a flag and everything, as the Purple Heart City. And we do have a number of Purple Heart winners, recipients. I don't say winners, because I don't call getting shot as a winner, but recipients that live in the city. And I actually used to work with a two-time Purple Heart winner, a recipient. Other than that, that's all I have. Other than the fact, don't forget about the city manager. He's due Friday, I think. Okay. And I'll be out of town tomorrow through Sunday to an FLC conference in Hollywood. I don't know who else is going with me. Bill, you're the only one going down? You're not going, Mr. Mathis?

Unfortunately, I can't this year.

I would love to, but... Well, I see you down there, Mr. Peterson. Okay. I have to be... Yeah, right. I got work starting at 1 o'clock.

The staff was just letting me know we flew that flag actually on Friday.

Is that it? Okay. Okay. I don't know. I lost track. I know we have Purple Heart Reception Day presenters with the flag, and it was certain day of the year we were supposed to fly it and all, but thank you. I'm glad to hear we're doing it. Thank you. Anything else need to come before the council?

Just that we are about to go into another meeting.

But I'm going to take a 15-minute break. Well, it's a 10-minute break. Okay. So let's start at 6-on-1.