City Commission - Regular Meeting

Yeah. Good

afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the special meeting of the Delray Beach City Commission this Tuesday, March 31. If the clerk please call the roll.

Deputy vice mayor Markert? Here. Commissioner Malika? Here. Commissioner Casao? Here. Vice mayor Burns? Here. Mayor Carney?

Here. We have a quorum. Thank you very much. Okay. We have two we have a two items on the agenda. First are public comments. And the second is the resolution to address the matters related to subculture. In public comments, if public comments is not related to the subculture question, those comments are going to be made when we take that agenda item up. These are just general comments that you might have as members of the public to the city commission on matters of the agenda and non agenda items, but not the item dealing with subculture. So if there's anyone here from the public wishing to address the commission, please come to the lectern.

You will each have three minutes. And seeing none, that's not surprising. That portion of public comments is closed. Great. We are now opening this up to the to the resolution 64 dash 26. If I could get the city attorney's office to please read the resolution into the record.

Sure. Do you wanna read the quasi judicial rules first? Or

Why would not you read it? But the well, we can do that now if you want. We we this is going to be a quasi judicial hearing, which means that everybody who's testifies is going to be under oath. These are gonna be limited in the amount of time you can speak. The applicant will have the city will present its its case. The applicant will present its case, then it will be opened up to public comment. There will be the applicant and the city commission will have the opportunity to cross examine if necessary. It will then come to the commission for a determination. If there are any members here wishing to speak on this agenda item, please stand and be sworn by the clerk. Otherwise, you will not be able to testify.

By the authority vested

in me,

as a notary of the state of Florida, do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Let

me read you the rules as it relates to quasar judicial hearings. This hearing shall be conducted in accordance with the quasar judicial rules. The applicant in the city shall be allowed fifteen minutes each to present their case. The public shall be allowed to speak for three minutes each or a maximum of six minutes if the person represents an organization or a group of people who are present but agree not to speak. The city commission and staff and the applicant may be allowed to cross examine a witness.

The city or the applicant will be allowed to offer rebuttal testimony. The decision to approve or deny an application or appeal may not be legally made upon personal views as to whether a project is a good project or not, nor may a decision be based on the number of citizens who support or oppose a particular project. The law requires that all decisions must be made on the basis of whether the project meets the requirements of law, the comprehensive plan, and the land development regulations. If you could now just read the resolution and please enter the file into the record.

Sure. This is resolution number 6426, a resolution of the city commission of the city of Delray Beach, Florida requiring additional off street parking spaces for the property located at 302 Northeast 6th Avenue as more particularly described herein pursuant to section four point six point nine of the land development regulations requiring 44 spaces based on the use of the property providing an effective date, and for other purposes.

If I could ask staff to please just enter the the project file into the record.

So, mayor, this this is a little bit different today.

Because I'm I'm gonna be still asking for the for ex parte. So

So there is no file application for the record. This is a city initiated matter. Right. And so the only thing that the city would introduce into the record are all the documents that were listed as the backup materials on the agenda.

And the testimony. Okay. Fine. Are there any ex parte communications? Commissioner Casal?

Oh, my. Probably.

Think that said it all.

I know. My. Yeah. I sat down with mister Mayo at his place of business, I believe. There were one or two other individuals there. I don't recall at this point in time who they were. Mister Rose has contacted me in the past and he sends us emails, which probably are somewhere on our server. I'm trying to think. Mister Rich Wagon had I've spoken to him. And, you know, a lot of people in the city have asked questions. I I can't say specifically all the names. Okay. But a fair amount of expertise. Thank you.

Quasi judicial was really just interested if the applicant has spoken to you, not citizens and things like that. They they are not considered part of the quasi judicial?

It's anybody who's spoken to the members of the commission about this specific matter.

They know.

So about this reevaluation.

Okay. That's fine. Then you're right. Commissioner Burns?

Yes. I haven't spoken currently recently, but I spoke to mister Mayo a year or so ago about this matter because it's been ongoing for a while. I've spoken to mister Rose a couple months ago regarding just clear clarity on an email that was sent and then the emails that we've received. And that's Facebook post driving by, looking at the situation myself.

Commissioner Marker?

Yeah. I've had some conversations with mister Mayo, not recently. I've had some conversations with mister Rose, and I've had some conversations with mister Rich Wagon.

Great. Commissioner Moloka?

I spoke with mister Mayo and, of course, drive by their property several times. That's it.

I have not spoken to mister Mayo in a while, but I have spoken to mister Rose, again, not in a while, but a month ago, and mister Richwagen the same. I've had numerous lots of correspondence on on my email, the city email address, so I want to include all those as part of my ex parte communications. But other than that, none. So if the with the city's gonna go first on this?

Okay. To

the city.

Thank you. Lynn Gillen, city attorney. This is kinda nice over here. Just letting you all know. So we're here today for a reevaluation of the off street parking requirements for the property located at 302 Northeast 6th Street, which we all know is the Subculture Coffee, the Delray Beach location. So I wanted to start off preliminarily to explain that nobody wants to be here. I don't wanna speak for the commission, but I know you don't wanna be here. I can speak for city staff. We don't wanna be here. And I'm pretty sure mister Mayo doesn't want to be here either.

This is a very uncomfortable position. What this hearing is about, it's not about shutting down subculture. It's not about nobody's taken any licenses away from subculture. Nobody has done anything in this matter except ask subculture to come into compliance with the terms and conditions of their approvals from the city. This is not about seeking additional in lieu in lieu payments from subculture because frankly under our current rules that's not even something that can be afforded to mister Mayo.

This really is strictly about compliance and finding ways to achieve that compliance. So we're gonna we're gonna go back to 2023, and I can tell you that none of you were sitting on the commission at that time with that decision.

So decision?

The oh, I'm sorry. Miss Maranto was.

Excuse me.

Yes. Yes. My apologies.

You're right.

I was here. You're right.

I apologize.

And I voted in favor. You did.

I was actually in the audience.

So back in 2023, mister Mayo had recently purchased a property and had wanted to open a subculture location there, had met with the city and realized that based on the use of the property that he was gonna propose, he did not have sufficient parking. And so he needed to seek parking relief from the city and we've seen these motions all the time. They're in lieu of parking requests where essentially he only had eight on-site parking spaces and he needed five additional parking spaces. So he went before the city commission and he made his request. Quasi judicial proceeding just like today, everybody was under oath and under oath he told you, he told the commission, a previous commission, that he was gonna be a majority of a grab and go restaurant.

People would stay there fifteen minutes or less. People would grab their coffee and go and it was a majority of his business based on prior locations, other locations that he had. And so based on those representations, his request was approved. So after he received his in lieu of parking, he came back to the city, and he submitted what's called a zoning certificate of use and a zoning certificate of use is a formal document that let staff know exactly what your proposal is and that's where they put the conditions and let the applicant know what is and what is not permitted. And he submitted this document back in March 2024.

It was approved about a month later, about three and a half weeks later. And what's interesting about this document, why I put it up here, is because the document tells you that he's gonna open up a restaurant. He kind of called it a cafe with premade goods but there is that certain that circle that I have there where it says other. And if he was gonna operate as what he's doing today, this community cultural gathering place, would have been the place to put that. That would have been the place to tell staff, yes, I'm a cafe but I also want to do these events.

I want to host events where people can sit, talk politics, commune community together, that would have been the place to put that. Because had he put that on there, there would have been further analysis done to ensure that the in loop parking request that he made, the spaces that he paid for, and the on-site parking that he had was sufficient and he didn't. And so he proposed a counter service restaurant with 20 interseats and he was approved for a restaurant. And so he had a grand opening on or about 07/24/2024. So what's been going on here since he opened in July 2024?

I don't need to tell this Commission about all the parking issues that are told to you by residents, by neighbors, and by, you know, community business owners in the community. And I do apologize. I think I skipped a slide because I think

important.

So

think

this slide we all know the subculture location. We know that it's located at North Federal at the corner of 3rd And 6th and I have two circles on this slide. The two circles are two businesses that are in very close proximity to subculture and one is a law office belonging to Daniel Rose and another one is Rich Wagons Bicycles owned by Albert Rich Wagons. And I'm going to tell the Commission today that these are the two predominant individuals businesses that are complaining about the parking. That's not that's a known fact you know sergeant Saran Sidi is here today he's going to talk about the parking complaints that we've received but I think it's important to understand that while the complaints are coming predominantly from these two areas they're also the two businesses that are closest to subculture that are going to feel the impacts of these events that are being hosted there that are not permitted.

So post July 2024, that's where we have these these parking concerns. And I do have Matthew Saracini. He's a sergeant. Sergeant Saracini, can you state your name for the record, please?

Yes. It's sergeant Matt Saracini with the authority beach police department. I'm the traffic sergeant.

And how long have you been in that in that position?

About nine years now.

So are you familiar with subculture?

Yes.

And as part of your duties and responsibilities with the city, were you assigned to review some of the complaints that the city was receiving concerning this business?

Yeah. At one time, we're the traffic unit was involved with going over there and, you know, frequently checking on the business, providing extra patrols to see if anyone was parking in the no no parking sign area or in the safety zone. Those were the two areas we were really looking at. Rich Wagons and mister Rose's business across the street, they had complained at times that patrons would go park in their parking lots, but I've never witnessed witnessed them.

So you so the parking issues that mister Rose was complaining about, you were never able to witness them?

I did write some citations for people who parked in front of the no parking sign on 3rd 3rd Street.

Okay. But as far as private property goes, are you able to cite those?

No.

So even though this looks, for lack of a better word, messy, that's not something that the city can control. Correct?

No. It's a private business so they could contract a tow company. And if someone was parked in their business, they could tow the vehicle.

Okay. But what the city is concerned with is the impacts to the roadway.

Okay.

Is that correct?

Was there impacts to the roadway as a result of the traffic from subculture?

What what you're looking at is the impacts to the roadway. The parking impacts to the roadway. Yes. And did you find there to be any type of a dangerous situation that was created?

No. Outside of blatantly parking in front of a no parking sign, it wasn't obstructing traffic on 3rd Street. Pedestrians can go walk past it. Two way traffic was able to be achieved. It wasn't, blocking any sight lines to the intersection of 3rd Street and Northeast 6th Avenue where it would cause a crash.

So is it fair to say that the parking problems were basically within the boundaries of the property of subculture?

Yes.

Okay. I don't want anything further. Sergeant Saracini has to go to another event. Is it okay if counsel cross examines him and then he can be dismissed?

Yes. If you I believe you have to

Sergeant Saracini, when you drive down Federal Highway immediately to the north of Subculture, do you see a big Murphy's truck there or a big truck there that's blocking that area of the parking there?

Yes. You're talking about the bottom left photo. Correct?

Right.

Yes.

Now if you were to drive another five or six spaces, would you see another box truck from the same sign company there?

I think it's there at times. Maybe a McLaren sign McLaren signs truck.

And if you were to drive even two steps or two spaces north of that, would there be even a third box truck that's there?

I don't know if there's another box

truck. Are you familiar with that area enough to know to drive by there and see something they're familiar?

Yes. How long do

you think those trucks have been in those spots?

They're there frequently.

Yeah. You say they're

frequently, would it be fair to say that one truck right there hasn't moved for a year?

I couldn't tell you that. I don't know. I, you know, I passed by periodically, so it could leave in the amount of time that I haven't returned to

the area. Possible.

Every time that you drove by, was that truck there?

I don't recall.

Now if those trucks were moved, how many more additional spaces would there be on Federal Highway there?

I don't know the amount of spaces. It's the next block up would be 4th Street, but those vehicles wouldn't block any sight lines to 4th Street.

And the truck there, is that taking up two spots or one?

I'm not sure how the even the size of

that truck, probably two spots.

Okay. And the truck in front of it, was that taking up two spots also?

It's a box truck, so I would imagine it would.

And the third the third truck that's parked on the northernmost part of that, that's got the name of the sign company there, would also that'd be taking up a spot.

Are you talking about the box truck? Yeah. The McLaren? That would take up two spots.

Okay. And if those spots were free, would that it free up an additional eight spots on Federal Federal Highway Highway there? There?

I would imagine so. I'm not even sure that all those are spots. I think there's safety zone over there as well.

K. Nothing further. Thank you, sergeant.

Alright. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you, sergeant, for do you have any other questions for the sergeant?

Does the commission have any questions?

Do the commission have any questions for the sergeant? No.

I would question one thing. Okay. I believe the gentleman I believe you said you're you've seen two trucks there, but you've not necessarily seen the third he referenced.

I didn't see the third at all.

So then if there were parking spaces, it wouldn't be six or eight parking spaces. It would potentially be four. Correct. If there's two trucks. Thank you.

Okay. Are there any other members of the commission wishing to address the sergeant? Sergeant, thank you for taking the time today. Can I

have one more question, please?

You may.

What would be the prohibition against BOTS backing out of the parking spaces on Subculture's parking lot? Is there a prohibition for them backing out?

I'm not quite sure what the question is. Backing out from the parking lot onto Federal Highway? Yes.

I don't believe they have

to back out onto Federal Highway.

But if they did, would that be prohibited under the parking code or the traffic code? Would that be obstruction?

I wouldn't call it obstruction. No. They they were forced to do so.

K. Sir?

I'm sorry. Have there been any accidents at this location that you responded to or you're aware of?

There's been two reported crashes in the parking lot of Subculture. One was an alleged crash and it was proven that the crash did not occur. The other one was just a basic parking lot crash, minor minor damage. And as far as Northeast 6th Avenue goes, around that intersection, there was four of the crashes.

But that's not 25.

But not related to the business. It's just, you know, improper lane changes and left hand turns from the right lane. Very common for Northeast 6th Avenue, especially the first four blocks.

And any other intersection on that same stretch?

Yeah. For a second.

Okay. Thank you very much, sergeant.

Thank you very much, sergeant. You are you are dismissed. Alright. Thank you.

Can I continue?

Mister Goodson, attorney could continue.

Thank you. So Anthea is gonna help me with some of these slides. I'm gonna ask you some questions. Anthea? Could you state your name for the record, please?

Sure. Anthea Junotis, development services

picture on the top right up there. This doesn't work. So so on the top right right there, what that vehicle, is

that in a parking space? The white truck in the top right.

The painted truck.

Oh, Sorry.

It's been

a long time.

Your other road. Yeah.

The other road.

My son's right. That one. Yes. It appears. Does does that appear to be a a vehicle that's owned by subculture? Yes. And how why why do you think that? Based on the color. So would would subculture parking their own vehicles create a parking issue, in your opinion?

So parking requirements include staff. However, I think at the in lieu discussion about having the amount of parking, there was some indication that staff would be parked elsewhere.

Because how many on-site parking spaces are there? There are eight. Well, are supposed to

be eight.

There are supposed to to be eight, yes.

And why am I saying supposed?

Because the parking lot is not adequately striped at this time, so it's difficult to count.

And that car on the bottom left, is that car properly parked?

No. It appears to be on the sidewalk.

And you would agree with me that mister Mayo can only control so much. Correct? I do agree with you. But you would also agree with me that if this parking were properly striped and marked, that would help the situation and mitigate the situation with the parking concerns that we're repeatedly hearing about? Yes. So I'm showing you a building permit. Do you recognize this building permit or a screenshot from it?

I do recognize this

building And tell us what this building permit is.

So as part of trying to ameliorate some of the issues, in May 2025, a hardscaping permit was submitted to reconfigure and stripe the parking lot.

Has that permit been closed? No. Has the work been completed? No. How long can you estimate how long that permit's been open?

According to time elapsed on the slide, it's been open two ten days. The way that the permit software works, it's like a tennis match. The applicant has the ball. They can make changes, upload edits. Then it goes over to staff. They can't touch it anymore. We can make comments, and then we send the tennis ball back to them to make changes according to the screenshot. The tennis ball has been with the applicant for a hundred and seventy nine days and thirteen and a half hours at the time the screenshot was taken, waiting for them upload changes in response to city comments.

And the city has been seeking this parking lot to be striped can I have additional

Please continue? Yes.

Thank you. The city's been seeking to have this parking lot corrected for some time now. Correct? Correct. And in fact, the city staff had met with mister Mayo, I believe, on-site to discuss some of these issues?

Yes. There was a multi department meeting on-site to discuss the issues.

And was work ever done on this parking lot?

Not through permits. Not that I'm aware of.

Let's And, put it that again, this permit remains open as we sit here today.

Could I ask a question? Can we ask as we go for the audience's benefit instead of circling back? Do is that okay since mayor? Yes.

You recognize.

Mayor, you recognize?

Yes.

Thank you. Is it appropriate to ask while we're going? Because I think it will help the audience a little bit and us as well. Would that be okay?

So it's up to you.

Yeah. Yeah. Mean, I I I wanted to have it as productive as possible. So

I'll be quick.

If you feel that that would be more productive, would you feel that's a more productive?

That's fine.

Okay. Sure. So we're going have to be a little flexible on the time because

people

are you. Going to be using everybody else's time here. Be right.

The reason why it needs to be striped is one, to identify the spaces but also to identify handicap correct correct and that should have been done pretty much on day one would you argue 2022 or whenever the or 2023 when the approval went through, the parking there should have been a plan to identify the parking spaces at that point. Because it's not just the hundred and seventy days that the permits been open. That's that's a common requirement. Correct?

So I don't you can answer that. Thank you.

Okay. So because this was an adaptive reuse, they went into a building that was already there. Didn't build this building. He didn't build this parking lot. There was existing striping. It gets faded. It changes over time. When they opened, we made sure that and you can see in the bottom right that there's a handicap sign and that it was painted blue. However, there are other deficiencies related to the type of striping, demarcating the path that somebody in a wheelchair would take to the front door, things like that that are typically achieved through the hardscape cape permit that's on the screen to make sure it's okay. These types of things, though, when it's an existing building, you know, it's Flexible.

Just working with them.

Yeah. Okay. Thank you. But but at some point, when these problems began to get bigger and bigger, staff met with Mr. Mayo and talked about these things and frankly when you look at how the parking is being conducted because there's no lines, as the business you would want to ensure that your customers have a safe parking area so that we can avoid accidents and fender benders and things like that.

The parking situation from the city's perspective is actually making the impacts of whatever's going on inside the building worse and that's why we're having the spillage onto the sidewalk, to private property spaces and things like that. And so from our standpoint, everything that you're gonna see here today is just part of this making a a a problem just bigger and bigger and bigger without having some type of correction. Thank you. Good.

Please continue.

Thank you.

So since July 2024, we've had unapproved events. We're all familiar with the city special events policy. And from the standpoint of this being a grab and go restaurant with only eight on-site spaces, Any event on this property whether you have an open mic night, you have a latte art competition, there's going to be an impact and you're probably going to hear today that these events are small. There's only 18 to 20 people that are in attendance. However, we have to look at each on a case by case basis and understand that even though it might only be 18 to 20 people that are in attendance when you only have eight on-site spaces, two might be utilized by your members of your staff now you have less and less spaces available to host these types of events.

The ticketed events are easy. Those are not permitted. Know there is nothing about a ticketed event that's customary use with a grab and go restaurant. So those are the easy ones but these other events while they are good for the community, while they do bring people together because of the location of the site that's why we're having these issues. That's why we're here before you today.

If these events weren't going on the impacts would probably not be felt as much and we wouldn't have to be issuing notices of violation, code hearings and things like that and having to have a reevaluation of their parking requirement. So staff did meet with mister mayor. We just talked about that and in response he did a request to amend. So we talked about the zoning certificate of use which is that legal document that tells you what you can and cannot do on your property. So he did come back and he wanted to have a community cultural gathering place with weekly entertainment including chess, live art, painting, poetry, open mic karaoke, latte art, coffee cupping classes, guest training and classes.

Staff reviewed it, reviewed the location of the property and made a denial of it. The staff said, no, you can't do this. You can't do this because where you're located it cannot withstand the impacts of these events. You are a grab and go coffee shop that's what you're approved for and unfortunately these events despite the fact that they've been denied do continue. So, what is the current approval?

The current approval is a restaurant with 41 seats. He has to meet the definition of a restaurant that's listed in the code and he has to have a seating and floor plan that is consistent and it remains the same during all hours of operation. So what does that mean? It means that we can't set it up, you know, with chairs to watch a latte art competition take away all the tables and put out 50 seats. That we can't do because we're not operating as a restaurant. Those are the things and Mr. Mayo in fairness wanted the city to give him a list. Here's a list. Tell me what I can and cannot do and it's not that staff was being difficult. It's not that staff didn't want to work with him.

It's that we can't, you can't look at these things myopically and say yes, no, maybe yes, no. You can't do that. You have to look in the same way we have the special events process where people come submit their application we review it as a team and we tell them this is what you need for a year event you are going to need police you are going to need fire that's essentially what would need to be done because we would have to look at the events that he's looking to host the impacts of those events and determine whether or not they can, the site can, can sufficiently mitigate the impacts of whatever is gonna happen on that day. So why are we here? We're here because subculture is operating more like a meeting place than a grab and go.

And when we talk about the 2023 hearing for the in lieu parking, there was a conversation about the turnover of the parking spaces. A grab and go necessarily implies that the spaces are going to turn over. The People are going to run-in, stay there for ten minutes or less, grab their coffee, grab their baked goods and leave and that's not what's happening and if you look at the definition of a meeting place in our code is going to give you examples assembly halls, meeting rooms, cultural facilities. That's what a meeting place is in our code and what you're going to determine today is is he operating more like that or more like the grab and go restaurant that he told the commission back in 2023. So Mr.

Mayo did submit a change.org petition which got a lot of signatures but in the change.org petition he tells us that he always wanted it to be more than a grab and go restaurant that he envisions a place where people were gonna gather, they're going to discuss local issues, promote local art and artists and that's okay but not in this location because he can't support that type of environment. The parking is just not sufficient for that. So what is the actual use? Is it a restaurant or is it a meeting place? If you go on social media, you're gonna see things like people use it as their office workspace, people use it as a cozy place to hang out and drink their coffee and if he were in another location that had the sufficient parking those things would probably not be a problem.

We probably would not be here today because that is something that happens at a coffee place but that's not what he pitched. That's not what he can support. So why does this designation matter? Matters because we're gonna talk about the parking space differential. Is it 13 spaces for this restaurant or is it really 44 spaces because he's having a meeting place that's a cultural gathering spot for the community.

And if you look at the calculations, he would be at a deficit of 31 spaces if you went and said, he's a meeting place, we're going to impose a maximum number of spaces to support that use. So, you're probably going to hear that the city is engaging in selective enforcement and we're not. There is a difference and the difference is the location of subculture. If you look at our parking map and this was taken from the city's website and you look at Atlantic Avenue, all those P's reflect all of the different parking options that are on the F. Bond Street spaces, public and private garages, public and private lots and you can see there's a plethora of them on there.

When you look at where subculture is, there's nothing there. So, while you're gonna hear that places on the AV are doing these things and it's not fair, the reason why it's not impacted is because of the options for parking that are located in those areas that just doesn't exist where subculture is located. So the code is going to guide your decision making today. The first portion of the code that's going to help you is how can we even be here? How can this Commission reevaluate someone's parking requirements?

And under 1.4 it tells us that you have the ability to take whatever action is necessary to prevent or remedy a violation and I think that when you look at the previous slides, we've proven to you, we've provided to you competent substantial evidence of violations and they don't have to go rise to the level of a code violation, they're just simple violations of the city's code. If you look at off street parking regulations section four point six point nine that's going to tell you that it's Mr. Mayo's responsibility to provide and maintain adequate off street parking. So, when we look at that parking lot, is he maintaining adequate off street parking? The answer is no because if they were properly striped, he could probably get the sufficient number of spaces on there.

If he didn't have his employees parking there, he would probably have sufficient parking customers on there, but it just exacerbates an already difficult situation. And then the last one is really the main one. So, this one off street parking regulation subsection B1 talks about when can you assess more parking and that's when you're going to look at the nature of the use. You're going to ask yourselves has there been an enlargement of the use? Remember we're going to start off with a grab and go.

Has that grab and go use been enlarged by hosting these events, these hack nights, these pop up shops, these open mic nights. Does that enlarge a use so as to create an issue with parking? The next consideration for the Commission is, has there been a change in the manner in which the use is conducted? So again, has there been a change in the grab and go? Is he acting like a community cultural gathering spot that is a meeting place that's going to affect the parking requirement and require him to provide more?

So, when we talk about how has the use been conducted, we're going to look at the types of events that he's had. We've had open mic nights, we've had latte art competitions, are these consistent with a majority of customers staying fifteen minutes or less, are these an enlargement of an approved use that was given to him back in 2023? Is a trivia night or a co working coffee shop is that consistent with grab and go? Are those those uses enlarging the approved use of a grab and go that only required 13 parking spaces? And then it has hack night, monthly workshops, pop up shops.

Mr. Mayo is going to tell you that he hasn't had events in over a year. There's actually one scheduled for later this week, April 4, where there's going to be a little boutique and I just can't stress this more strongly. These events are not bad events. It's just that the impacts of the community make them a challenge.

They make it difficult for the neighbors and while I understand it's essentially two people that are the brunt of the complaints, they're the two that are closest to the restaurant which are going to feel it the most out of anybody else. So, we've talked about your considerations. You're going to consider if there was an enlargement of the approved use or if there was a change in the manner in which the use was conducted. If the answer to either one of those is yes, then what the Commission is going to need to do today is determine the nature of the use meeting place, and then assess the appropriate parking requirement based on the use. So I did put some options on here to help guide the conversation.

The first option is we maintain the status quo. We don't do anything. Understanding that these impacts are there and that they're felt throughout the small vicinity of the neighborhood. You can determine that the use is consistent with the meeting place and at that point you would assess whatever whatever number of parking spaces you deem is appropriate, and then you're going to obviously credit the 13 spaces that he was already essentially grandfathered in. You could require as part of the additional parking spaces require what's called a tri party off-site parking agreement and what that agreement is it's between Mr.

Mayo, the city and whoever's going to lease or license spaces to him. It would require the city to be a party so it would come back before the city commission for your approval and it would say that if that agreement doesn't work out then he's not gonna be able to open until he's able to supply the requisite parking that was no longer afforded. So it keeps the city involved, makes the city aware of what's going on and if there's an issue with the parking, it would have to come back to you for approval. And then the last thing is that you can require subculture to mitigate the impacts of their parking issues. Pave and strike the parking lot.

Maybe they should have to hire a parking attendant to oversee the parking lot during peak hours of operation. Maybe they have to require their employees to park off-site and have and have them seize from advertising events on-site. So some of these things were, for example, the requiring employees park off-site, they were discussed in the past. They were never officially memorialized in the approval. We would memorialize them today.

So I would just, ask the commission to truly determine what this use is, determine what the impacts of the uses and once you do that however you formulate your decision, it should serve to mitigate the impacts of the use as well as provide sufficient parking so that we don't have to come back here again.

Great. The city has concluded?

Yes.

Okay. I would like to call miss Ginotes as a witness just

to answer some questions. Sure. We can cross now.

Sure. Miss Junotes, right now the parking lot that was restriped by mister Mayo outside of his permit, he restriped it according to what was there when it was approved?

I don't know that, actually. Okay. I because I any restriping, just as a public service announcement, requires a permit Yeah. Because we're gonna make you double stripe. So I know that when they first opened, we had a complaint that the handicapped sign was no longer up. They had been doing interior renovations, and we stopped by and asked them to put that back up. So it but it was a nonconforming parking lot.

Absolutely. And is a nonconforming parking lot? It could come into compliance?

It can. But I I do wanna say this is not there's we're dealing with feet and inches. There's only so much. He's he can make it better, but, you know, it is a tight site and it's existing. So we're we're trying to adjust something that is limited by its existing condition.

And as far as its existing condition goes, if it can be fixed, does it need a new zoning designation, or can it be fixed? One of the two.

So, no, it doesn't change the use for if if he is going to stripe the lot and achieve the eight spaces that are to be on-site. Okay.

Under chapter 4.69, a meeting room, are there any other meeting rooms in the city of Delray Beach that you know of? I

don't remember looking that up. Mean, offhand, no, we do have clubs, but I don't remember how the parking works for that. I mean, places of assembly and other things. I can't think of one off the top of my head.

I'm sorry.

If this was a meeting space according to the code, would the city approve subculture as a meeting place or would they no so because At this point, if it's considered a meeting place, it's essentially zoned out of business. Correct?

Correct. It's a restaurant.

Okay. And in terms of a permit. Are you familiar with the permit process for a special event?

It's not my department, but we participate as a reviewer, and then it goes before DSMG. So yes, at that aspect. There's a CTAC process I don't personally participate in.

If subculture was to ask for a permit, would that cost essentially $3,400 for each special event?

If if you don't know the question, you can answer

it right I mean yeah. I don't know the cost. Okay. And Unless that's conditional use.

Did the city record did the city record the complaints for this, for the parking complaints?

I have a document. I don't know if it's the only document.

Okay. And in your document, does it limit does it show how many people complained about So the subculture?

I was provided a list of complaints to the police department between 01/01/2024 and 04/27/2025 where there were 52 calls for various

issues. Calls, how many of them were a single person? About Of those calls, of those 52, how many were instigated by one single person?

At least half or about half. Okay.

Is that a question of there's an actual complaint about parking or just an angry angry neighbor?

Well, your neighbor can be angry because of the parking.

Understood. So it's, you know. And

when you went to go look at the spot, I asked the police officer this if there were some spots on Federal Highway

Correct.

That could have been open. How many spots did you count that could have been open that were there?

That could have been open that had cars in them?

Yes. Or that had trucks in them, specifically.

Okay. Well, I've been driving by in anticipation of this workshop more frequently than usual. Mhmm. And the last one that I saw was taking was closest to the landscape island and it was taking one in about about a third of the parking space in front of it. And so it's it's at least one truck is regularly there.

And it's been there for about a year?

I I don't know. It's there when I drive by. I've noticed it. Yes.

And if those trucks were were removed, that would provide an additional five spaces approximately? The

intention of on street parking is that it turns over to serve multiple businesses, that it's not a permanent parking lot for your business.

And this is Federal Highway. This is a commercial district.

Mhmm. Okay.

And when someone buys in lieu parking

Yes.

So does the city invest that money for a parking garage so they don't have the same problems like on Atlantic Avenue?

So it's not necessarily for a garage, but it could be. The in loop parking payments go into an account and they can be used for parking, bicycle or pedestrian infrastructure that supports supports other modes of transportation, but largely it is used for parking. It could be we have parking lots as well throughout the city, things like that. We use to improve parking.

And how much did Subculture pay for its in lieu parking with the city of Delray Beach?

I have to look at the backup. That should be in the reso. Sorry. Okay. Found it. Okay. So on 04/18/2023, the city commission approved in the parking request for five parking spaces in the amount of $118,300.

And was there was there at that time when it was approved, was there a plan by the city to build a parking garage in the vicinity of Subculture?

No. Not a garage.

Has there been any attempt by the city to build any relief parking for this area?

I mean, we work with our developers to achieve on street parking adjacent to development and that is, right now, the largest source of sort of public parking that's coming in the area.

Is there has there been any But no. Any specific working with people for Subculture's benefit on behalf of that money for the in loop parking?

No. That money is in the in loop parking account. Yeah.

And if subculture was to require 44 spaces, how many in lieu spaces would that actually require them?

There's a limitation on the percentage of businesses required parking that can be achieved through in lieu. So there's no way to do the 44 spaces as an in lieu payment.

Okay. And thank you. Have nothing further. I would

like

to call Rodney Mayo. Rodney, could you state your full name?

Rodney Mayo.

And? I I just need to clarify. Is this part of your presentation? I mean, that's fine if you wanna do this, but I just It's

part of the presentation.

So I just need to know if you keep keeping your allotted time. That's all. That's yeah. With some flexibility, yes. Thank you.

Thank you. First things first, do you wanna continue with your business at Subculture in Delray Beach?

I don't. I can't I don't know. I don't I don't wanna go through this, and I don't see it ever ending. Even if we are allowed to stay and we work the parking, I think I'll be attacked constantly, by my neighbor or two neighbors. One neighbor, really, actually. That one's been okay. And this and most of this commission, it seems like there's a vendetta against me.

Enough of that. Alright. So let's be clear. The city has alleged that this is a continuing problem, not the exception to the rule. So let's be clear. The events that were put up there by the city, were those three separate events or were those events that occurred every month or whatever else?

Show you exactly. They're pulling up events from, right here. November 2025 is the one they use. May 2025 and, May 2025. We stopped all events. Okay. When we appealed, the magistrate said we haven't had an event in over since those dates,

since May 25. Because

we were waiting for our appeal from the magistrate to say if we are allowed to do these events or not. So we were waiting for the appeal. So but in the meantime, we stopped all events.

Okay. And since you've stopped all events, have you had any code enforcement leveled against you?

No. And we have zero code violations currently on the portal. Zero.

Okay. So what the city was using as evidence of a pattern is actually three cases that are under appeal right now?

Not exact not those specific ones, but those are events previous to our magistrate hearing. They're over, you know, they're almost they're over a year old, and we stopped all those events because we didn't wanna go through this until we had a ruling from a higher court.

And right now, as as this stands, is there any available parking around you?

Yes. I counted on this slide. You will see I didn't know. I was hoping to go through this in order.

Let's let's take it back. Let's go through this in order. Let's start with the first let's do your presentation. Let's do it in order.

Okay. Oh, so I'll just answer your questions here. Options. The, the two yellow lines, the red is subculture. That is a one block walking radius. I know nobody in Delray walks, but, that 32 spots are available on north going north and going south within one block of subculture. I will you can go back on Google, which I did, because you can trace Google, and you can see how many available spots are there. That truck has been there for eighteen months or more. That's as far back as Google goes. The one in front of it has been there for two years, not come and go stationary.

I would I heard that that truck finally got towed out because it was not operational. So, yes, there are options. Two hour limit on federal would solve a lot of these problems, but, unfortunately, unfortunately, that truck right there is the closest to parking spots to subculture. If you just go to the left of that truck that has not moved for eighteen months, that's subculture. So they're taking up two of our prime spots.

Now is that something is that something that subculture can move or change?

No. Actually, we've tried to been I I love McLaren signs, so we've been very you know, not really but we have called, it took actually calling the police department to follow-up with the parking because it got red tagged two months ago. The red tag was ripped off. It never moved. Anyway Okay.

Let's get to your next slide.

So so up here hold on. They're not ready. So grab and go. I I just think that that I've been thrown under the bus so many times about grab and facts, though.

Alright. From your accounting Yes. How much of your business is grab and go?

So right here, the facts.

Can we

can we zoom in?

We can

I don't think we can?

I think we can. Hold on.

Let's give it a shot.

Here we go. Look at that. Look at that. I don't know if

we can Counsel, your eyes may be better than mine. I I Yeah.

Right? So I just did the last four months, and you will see this is November. November. Two ways to figure calculate it by quantity. You'll see here quantity versus price. By grab and go quantity, we're at 63% grab and go. Price, we're at 59%. I'll skip to January.

What's How did you determine what's grab and go and what's for the inside restaurant?

It's rung. And if you look right here, it says dine in takeout. So every time because we serve dine in, we serve in porcelain, cups so people can have a better experience. And to go, it goes in a paper cup. So and, also, when they call out the order, they know if they're sitting there, they'll if they have time, they can bring the coffee to them as opposed. So they always ring it in. They get a name. And right after they enter name, it says, is this dine in or take up? And then hold on. I'll just go down to the bottom.

So was that true when you first applied for your for your zoning? Was it grab and go

Oh, it's you were first applying? That that is our so I knew I wasn't gonna be believed. So this is last Saturday. We did a security video camera. Unfortunately, I had to pay somebody five hours to count every person coming in and coming out. This is from Saturday. So I'll just play it. It's really quick, but you will see the actual numbers. Top is total people entering the residence, the business. The yellow is people that are in and out of there in less than fifteen minutes.

The red number are people that stayed more than an hour. And this is from a period of 7AM to noon, and this was just this past Saturday. And I'll provide the backup security if anyone needs it. It'll just take ten more seconds, but I think it's important, At least important for the poor guy that had to count all these people.

And so we're clear, what are the hours of operation of Subculture?

Well, since we stopped doing any activities, we cut we used to be open till midnight, and we cut it back to 8PM. So we are now, for the last nine months, 7AM to 8PM.

10PM.

Sorry. 10PM, guys. I stand corrected. But this is pretty you know? And this is this is actually pretty much matches our records because, you know, somebody sometimes somebody will say I'm gonna go out. So 76 total customers, 56 were grab and go, 18 stayed there, 77 to 23% grab and go. So I feel like what I stated at the commission was accurate. Do you wanna continue going through this?

Yes. Let's go to the next step.

Okay.

So we we did a record search. We did FOIA requests to find out who any complainants were. I've asked this commission before because I've heard commissioners say the entire neighborhood. I actually had the neighbor to Daniel Rose call me and say he loves subcultures, never had a parking issue, and he is right next door to Daniel Rose. Anyway, the only one we found with complaints, which were over 120 documented complaints, was from Daniel Rose only. None from mister Rich Wagon. So I've asked this commission, could you please tell me? Because I would like to reach out to those people. I'd like to you know, if somebody's upset with this, I think I can work with them one on one, but nobody has given me that information. They just use these broad sweeping statements, the neighborhood.

I think somebody else is gonna go talk. They went around the neighborhood and actually gave them a pamphlet within, like, a one block. I think they're gonna talk later. It's one person. It's Dana Rose. Sorry. And just on the 40 we'll go to the next one. But, I just wish this is where I hope we have time to play the actual commission and my actual words. This is what make you guys wonder why I'm so upset. This is it.

Right here, because my eyes are failing failing me, me, but just so I can read this. This is what the staff says I said. They're just pick up morning coffee, their afternoon coffee, majority stay less than fifteen minutes to pick up coffee. End. Do you guys know there was that was half of the sentence. The I feel that that's unfair. I feel that that is accusatory because right after that, without a break, break, I say, but. We encourage our customers to stay. We offer free Wi Fi. We want them to sit and work.

We want students. That was a but, but nobody in two years has bothered to add that but. They stop it right there. The city and you commission condemned me. Anyway, parking calculations, it's very obvious that 44 ish to shut us down. I was happy that. Anthea said, 44 is impossible. So what you're for, you say you wanna work with us. You say you wanna keep us open. You say you don't wanna close us down, but you're giving us a demand for 44 spaces that your head of zoning just said is impossible. So really look at your look at that look inward. Does that make any sense? I'm giving you one option. Get 43 spaces, which is impossible. That's your only option, period.

So you real we I'm not supposed to believe that you really wanna close this down. You could've come back with five. I know. Alright. This throwing this this has just surprised the heck out of me. This you're throwing my words and distorting them. You are saying that because I say coffee to be more subconscious coffee to be more than a great cup of coffee Is does does a croissant fall in that? Does a piece of cake fall in that? Does you wanna come in there and play a game of chess fall in that?

So that's

what I said.

What is the difference between a corporate coffee place like Starbucks and yours?

We have way better coffee. Okay. We don't we don't burn our coffee.

Is there but is there

a culture that you're also trying to convey there? Like, you're not a corporate culture. You're there for the neighborhood. You're a local business.

I I open up subculture, and a lot of the independent the the third wave of coffee wasn't an answer to sub to Starbucks was to create an environment that nonalcoholic give kids a place to hang out, just do to study, art, music, culture. If you go back to the fourteen hundreds, the history of coffee shops I know, mayor, you said you know coffee shops since the seventies, but I disagree with you. You do not. Because if you don't think poetry and Bob Dylan was started Focus. He had a coffee shop. I know it's hard for me to focus. Anyway, this is, I I spoke to two commissioners, that were on Next slide. Okay. Alright. I won't go there.

We went through the options. We we we abided by your ruling. You said no more events. We did that. Hate to tell you, but this is another restaurant that does if you look what they do, they do comedy. They do open mic. They do trivia. I would love to ask Anthea, what is the difference between this restaurant and ours? And I you would probably can I ask that? No.

30. No. We're gonna we're gonna get next because I've given up I've given more than equal time. So you you need to to wrap this up so we can get the public comment.

BTR so I came prepared. That location has the exact same license we do. Full service restaurant, 16 to 50 persons. They've been doing all those events for god knows how long. Let me go back. And they're continuing to do them. We spoke about this. No compromise. Just suspicious active. You know, our license was our license right now is currently not valid. So, currently, the code come could come and shut us down. But what happened, if you see here, it's it's a little odd. We were approved. And see what what this says right here. Description.

This account was renewed in error. This just appeared one month ago. Before this, we were valid license, active up until September. I kept checking. Somebody changes. Now it says it was approved in error error. I don't know who will would do that. And then I have a bunch of hold on. It's not moving. There we go.

And then just couple things on in lieu parking, which I'm I'm sure this is what was signed. I'm sure Anthea is very I have some just in lieu as far as what how how strong the parking is if you go anyway, it's all discombobulated. My presentation was an hour and twenty minutes. So to do it, I I was not aware we only have fifteen minutes. So I do have Oh, we've eclipsed 15, buddy.

I've been very generous. We've eclipsed No.

I know. But I timed your I timed the other one. It was twenty five minutes. Your your presentation, when it was fifteen, you gave With

It was twenty five minutes.

With with question interruptions. Yes. Okay. I'm Twenty

five minutes. We're not we're nowhere near the twenty

five minutes. I'm in the argument business.

If you were to apply for a special permit for each time a poetry meeting was there, how much would it cost you?

I haven't researched it, but I was told in our meeting with, attorney Gellen that it was about a 32 to $3,400 process for any event. And she said, well, by the time we go through that

And if

that's what we if it was approved.

If you had that meeting, would you be able to limit the amount of people to the maximum amount of people that the fire code says you're allowed to have?

You lost me there.

I'm sorry. If you were to have any sort of extra meeting like that or a special event, would you limit it to the amount of people you're allowed to have in your restaurant Yes. According to the occupancy given to you by the fire department? Yes. Okay. So let me be clear. The city might be mad at Roddy. Roddy might be mad at the city, but I feel like this can work. I feel like a lot of great bands hit each other, but I feel like we can make great music. This is not a situation that needs to end today with an assembly hall. This is a situation, I think, that can be fixed. We can work with this, but there is gonna be some issues with parking. That is entirely inherent on federal highway. I think once those trucks are moved and he restripes his lot, we can make this work.

So Thank you. By the way, for the record, I I deducted the time that with you that the both of you interfaced with the with the police officer, which is so which is why the time was not the twenty five minutes as as suggested. I was mister Mayo. Did you wanna cross examine at all? Because before we get to public comment?

If you want me to do it now,

I'm sorry. Did you have comment?

Yes. I wanted to ask a question. I don't know if this is the appropriate time to ask. Can I get a clarification on the the amount for applicant for a special, event?

Special event. What is a special event

for dollars for each special event?

So I think that that's a different I'm not sure what special event is, but it's the 3,000 number is conditional use, which had been on the table at one point when there were outside activities happening, that that would have been a mechanism for that? Or if we wanted to do a one time approval for, like, generally having the uses instead of, like, I'm doing this one on May 2 and this one on June 2?

I don't think the special event application costs that kind of money. I think that's for a conditional use, which is what would have been in Anthea's purview. But for a special event application, that that would not have been the fee for it.

And so which one would mister Mayo have to apply for? The special event application or the conditional use one?

So when we last discussed this, you know, he's kind of in this hybrid area because he does host a lot of events. Right. And so they stop losing that special distinction. And so the the idea was if you're going to continue hosting events on your property ask for a conditional use to host these events let the Commission evaluate the impacts of your events and make a decision so that you would know if you're gonna need a police fire or whatever. That was the suggestion that we had and this was probably over a year ago because I don't believe that a restaurant that's going to continue to host events every week which at one point they had daily events that it loses a special distinction at that point. It's not special, it's just events.

Right. So the conditional use fee, $3,400 whatever it is, would encompass all of the events that he would want to have. Correct. And not each individual event.

Correct. It would give him almost like a master plan for what the commission would envision for him to be able to host those events.

Is that is that what like the elks do and these others do in their community hold when they have

a They're different. I think they're a zone c f, so they're they're different.

I gotcha. Okay. That's a different thing. Alright. In that case, did you do any did you have any more cross examination? You're

entitled before

we get to

Sure. I I'll I'll I just have a few questions. So mister Mayo, you would agree with me that the grab and go designation, those were your words at the April 2020 at the 04/18/2023 commission meeting. Correct?

Yes. And I they're my words today

at standby. Fact, at that meeting, you discussed overflow parking with the commission because you recognized that it was gonna potentially be an issue. Correct?

It's an issue at every one of my businesses. Yes. And there were suggestions that were offered.

In fact, you did offer suggestions. One of the suggestions you proffered to the city commission was that you don't allow your employees to park on-site. Correct?

No. Incorrect.

So you never told the commission that

on 04/18/2020 I have the video if you wanna play it. Do you want

Well, I actually have a transcript. I can

show it to you.

So I will tell you that I sent

the transcript, John?

Because I'm happy

to share So

page 16. It's highlighted right here.

Right. Okay. You you mischaracterized it once again. What can I read? I I need to read I need to read that.

He has to he has to refresh his recollection, then I get it Okay.

So okay. Can I hold on to this so I can refresh

it? Okay. Does that refresh your recollection?

Of what I stated, but not what you stated.

Yes. So this document states, and I quote, we do not allow our employees to take up customer spaces. Did I read that correctly?

No. You you were reading that incorrectly, ma'am. Could you bring that back to me, and I'll bring it to you correctly?

It's okay. I'll just show the commission later.

No. How about you bring it back to me, I'll just read it? I'll read it in person.

John, why don't you read it?

The whole thing, not snippets. Correctly. We do not allow our employees to take up customer spaces. We just said. No. We'll play it back. You did not say that. And then the distinction is customer spaces. You know why? Because we have two employee parking spaces on-site. Two. Two stacked, and Nthia, I'm sure can attest to this. We have two employees. So when I say customers, that doesn't mean that we don't we have two employee spaces. So when you're insinuating, if if one of our employees does not park in our designated customer space and takes up yes.

We do. And, course, we do not allow that. I don't I don't park in a customer spot, but that is not you did not read that correctly. I'm sorry.

In 04/18/2023, did you tell the commission that you were speaking with someone named Rich about possibly obtaining spaces from him for a fee?

Yeah. That's mister Rich

Mister Rich Wagon. Correct?

Yes.

And in fact, at some point, you did have an an off-site parking agreement with, I believe, the it's called putting around?

No. Incorrect.

You never paid them, I think, approximately $2,000 to be able to You

said an agreement. What do you mean by an agreement?

Well, did they allow you to use their lot?

A month to month in season.

Agree.

And because we were doing these activities, I approached them and I said actually, I take that back. Think I she called me and said, we're not using this lot. Would you like to use this lot for either employees or overflow parking? I said that would be amazing. Me not taking anything from free, because she was gonna offer it to me for free. I'd say, I'd be happy to pay you. So I paid her a thousand dollar a month on a month to month basis. When summer came and I noticed there was three cars there on average and I was paying a thousand, I told her we don't need it anymore because there was no cars parking there.

Okay. So but you don't characterize that as a an agreement with her?

No. I think a written he was saying it no. Because it it could've ended at any time. It was month to month. So I don't I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know what classifies. But to me, when it's when either party can cancel it in in ten minutes notice, that's not an agreement. Okay. I just offered her money for her spaces.

So you told the commission that you stopped doing any activities. Correct?

Correct.

And back in you you you you tried to amend your zoning certificate of use to add the community cultural language in there. Correct?

Incorrect.

You you never submitted a document to the city seeking to amend your zoning certificate of use to have a coffee shop with food, art, music, community cultural gathering place with weekly entertainment?

At the instruction of Amy who approached me after so the answer is still no. If you want me to explain, I will. But, no, that was decision. That was Amy's decision that came up to me after the commission workshop and said, I'm gonna help you out. What we're gonna do so Daniel Rose has nothing to complain about is we're gonna redo a CZU, and I want you to write every single thing, activity you want. People think I just did this and wrote down 30 things. I wrote down 10. I showed it to Amy. You know what she said? She said, write is this everything you do?

And I said, no. I didn't write down chess and checkers. She goes, write everything down. So that list that you see of 25 things on that list was instructed and said, this is what I should do. Why would I go for a new CZU to get exactly what we were approved for previously? What was the purpose of that?

Okay. But you understand you signed that under under oath? There was an affidavit attached to it?

Oh, I submitted it. Yes.

You signed it under oath?

Yes. On the recommendation of the staff.

And so okay. And this

is what staff told me to do. So we get to

a public public oh, again, just you know?

It's a public

record. And so despite the fact that you were told no to have these events, open my karaoke karaoke latte art, you did it anyway, didn't you?

No. Our ruling, we have repealing those.

Well, no.

Don't Since that ruling, we have not done any of those.

Since February 20 since 02/24/2025, when your amended ZCU was denied, your own slide had the day of May 2025. So you did it anyway, didn't

it goes a little deeper. You like me to explain?

Or no. You did it anyway. Yes or no?

I was told by the city I could do it. So I would say the answer is, yes. I did it. But I was told specifically by people at the city that it was as long as it wasn't an outside event. That if it was inside, you were okay. I had zoning officials. I had Enrique tell me that. I had Anthea tell me that. And it is on video, if we have time to watch it, it is actually on video. You saying it was sitting up there. You said referred to it as the problem is out his outside events.

Correct. You referred to that.

Yes. And as ECU tells you,

you couldn't

have those.

But are you know what I

My question is, are open mic nights and latte art competitions and chess tournaments, are those outdoors? No. Thank you. I don't have anything further, mayor.

Okay. Great. Thank you both very much. We're gonna open this meeting up for public comment. Anybody wishing to comment on this on this application, please come to the lectern. Give your name and address if you have not been sworn. Is there ever anybody here gonna be speaking that has not yet been sworn? Okay. So will the clerk, please? I'm sorry.

If I could ask that they turn the computer because some of the comments have a visual Some of the comments have a visual that I have on my computer if they could turn it back on my computer.

That's that's If possible. A stop procedure, but so the clerk no. Anybody wish you to testify? This is the who hasn't been sworn in, please please face the clerk. Name and address for the or name and address. Of course. No. No. No. No name and address. Yeah. That's later.

No. It's quasi judicial.

They have

to No. Yeah. No. Ahead. Up here they want. If you could please anyone wish wishing to be heard, please please raise your hand. Here's the clerk.

By the authority vested in me, as a notary of the state of Florida, anywhere or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Thank

you all very much. Now just as a reminder, the total time that given is one hour. Now while each of each part person get up and could speak for three minutes, understand that to the extent that you're gonna be duplicating your your your talks, at one hour, we cut this off, you know, unlike I do for the applicant in the city. I give them leeway. The public, unfortunately, they're limited to one hour. So with that in mind, please give your name, address for the record. You will have three minutes.

I won't take up three minutes.

Well, would good for everybody behind you. My

name is Jerry Grossman. My address is 3210 Pearson Drive in Delray in Tradewinds Estates, which is fairly close to subculture.

Hold on one second. That is not that's not evidentiary I'm sorry. That can't be on our that cannot be sitting on the screen. That's not part of your presentation. It's not not not yours. You want

me to close the laptop

or on phone? Stand. Yeah. Right. You need to you need to

there you go. Now.

Please continue.

That doesn't count against my three minutes, I hope.

I'll be generous. That's a joke. That's a joke. That's a joke.

My name is Jerry Grossman. I live at 3210 Pearson Drive, Tradewinds Estates, Delray Beach, pretty close to subculture. And I do go to subculture pretty regularly for coffee, so I feel like I have a personal vested interest. I also know Daniel Rose pretty well. He's been my family's lawyer for well over two decades, and this is the first hearing I've been to.

And on the one hand, it's impressive at how polite and orderly it is, but there were aspects of it that I'm totally aghast about because it seems like subculture is being prosecuted. It's almost like it's a trial, and and they've committed some crime. There's absolutely parking issues. No doubt. I personally always park legally, and I don't like the fact that a lot of Florida residents, Delray Beach residents don't always park legally.

But it's an enforcement issue, and it is a public parking issue. It's not a crime by subculture. I go to coffee shops all around the world when I travel. I also live in New York. I to a coffee shop every day.

Subculture isn't doing anything that's radically different than other coffee shops do. And if there's anything that they're doing that needs to be refined, the city should be working with them to come up with a solution. The idea the idea that they could possibly be closed down over this is I'm sorry. To me, it's insane. As a resident and a taxpayer and and as a customer, that just boggles my mind.

Thank you, sir. Name and address for the record. You will have three minutes, mister Weiss.

Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Greg Weiss, 1615. It's my place of business, North Congress in Delray Beach 33445. Many of you know me.

I've been involved in Delray Beach over the past thirty years in many capacities, including chair of the chamber of commerce, chair of economic development for four years, as well as working with the city CRA on multiple committees for business purposes. So I just wanted to give a little context for those of you who may not have known a little bit about my background. Regarding parking, I think that that count was under because I did a drive and a walk up federal, down federal, and I actually counted 40 spots, between Atlantic and George Bush. The issue, which was repeated earlier, is a 100% correct. I can attest personally because I've spoken to the city about this.

There are more than a dozen trucks and cars that have been placed there in excess of weeks at a time. And not just the box trucks, talking about individual cars. Those are spaces that could absolutely be utilized for the customers of subculture. Okay? And that is lack of enforcement on the city's part.

Okay? Just from my perspective. The you you know, in my viewpoint, again, this is my opinion, Rod Rodney Mayo and subculture are no more responsible for policing outside his space than would Burt Rappaport of Deck 84 be in the Marina District or the cars that are always parked in Northern Trust in the evening. You know, I I really feel like Rodney to an extent is being attacked. It you know, so we suppose someone spoke earlier about selective enforcement.

Again, as prior chair and someone who worked to bring a lot of restaurants and and businesses to Downtown Delray, There is selective enforcement in Delray. I I I can attest to that. For those of you that were around during the years when we had Taverna Opa here and then when we had Union Sushi here, after 09:00, those were listed as restaurants by the city. They were approved as city. After 09:00, what did they turn into? They turned into nightclubs, 100%. They had stopped serving food to the extent and you saw the lights, the music, the noise, the people. Okay? That went on unabated without any issues from the city. So, I I do actually want to put to put it out there in my belief there is selective enforcement.

You know, that that's the reality of it. In the spirit of supporting a small business that brings so much to Delray Beach, whether you consider it a restaurant, whether you consider it a meeting space, I go in there three, four days a week, and I see plenty of kids there in our local high schools helping study groups, tutors, seniors gathering there. We need to work together to make sure there's there's an amicable solution. And then just one last thing and then I'll and I'll let it go. I've occasionally gone to places like Carmela Coffee, as well as one of my other favorites, Coffee District.

Coffee District has been in town seventeen years. They do multiple events there. They have been doing multiple events there and they have never had the same issue that Rodney is having. I thank you very much for your time.

Thank you. Welcome, mister Boylston. The first commission former commissioner Boylston who served the city for six years. Thank you very much for your

Good to see you, mayor. So I'm one of two people in this room that didn't actually vote on, this item. And, that's actually why I'm here tonight. I haven't been in this building in two years after six years of coming in every week. So what drove me to the come here today was not my love for coffee. It was because I heard over and over that the commission was misled, and that has been stated several times tonight. No. We weren't or no. I wasn't. I'll speak for myself. We knew exactly what we were voting on. Subculture has opened in Delray Beach three times. It's been at three locations. We know what subculture is. My colleagues and I also know what our comprehensive plan says.

So when you drive down Federal and you see all those empty spaces all down Federal Highway, some of the cleanest parking spaces until until recently, or stacked with dealership cards or with the trucks that were discussed tonight sitting there. Well, why are all those spots there? All you have to do is look at our comprehensive plan. The plan for Federal was to expand these types of uses there. For redaptive reuse of old automotive buildings that would turn into gathering places, that would turn into coffee shops and retail.

It's all in our comp plan. By the way, Anthea, that's what part of our comp plan. That's probably oldest and needs an update but I know you're going through like a lot to update. But, it still says that to this day. So if if it's still in our comp plan, then it's accurate to this day and that's exactly what we looked at. The reason the city invested in all those parking spots down federal that were unused for so many years or stored trucks for so many years is because we wanted this. It says it. It says it right in the comp plan and it by having those spaces, we are allowed to say yes to in loop parking. Pineapple Grove used to have in loop parking. We got rid of it when I was a commissioner because eventually you get to a point where you don't wanna let people just have pay their way for parking spots.

The place got too popular. Right? And it's pretty much happening everywhere in Delray. But that's what you do to spur development. It worked. Ask yourself this question, are we here if subculture isn't popular? If their coffee sucks, alright, and they don't have the, the guitarist who has an Instagram following of 10,000 people, right, are we here? You can't penalize businesses for being successful. And I just wanna end with this last quote here. Subculture gatherings are good for the community and they bring people together.

Attorney Jellen. You said that tonight which is a good quote, But and I'm just half and I'm just half kidding. I'm just half kidding with our attorney, but there's a lot more positive to why we're in this room than there is negative. So let's just remind ourselves that we're here because the building it's We're here because people like to gather. We're here because we have a a coffee shop that is too popular. But if you go back to why we approved it, why we approved the in loop parking, it's because of our comprehensive plan.

Thank you very much.

Before commissioner Boylston mayor. Mayor commissioner Boylston. Commissioner Boylston. Ryan, can you come back? Can I just ask a question since he's leaving? Cross Oh,

boy. Oh, she's allowed to cross the gap at a witness. You knew

the rules.

So yeah. That's true.

So you are subject to cross just one question. Yes. At the end of this hearing back in 2023, isn't it true that you agreed with mayor Petrolia that we needed to take another look at our in loop parking?

Oh, absolutely.

Okay. Thank you. Thank

you, sir. Hi.

My name is Julia Arjules, 33483. Sorry for this because this is the first

time I

was This is actually quasi so can you state your full address for the record and your

full name, please?

Julia Byron, 1010 Nassau Street 3 or Delray Beach 33483. Thank you. This is my first time doing this, so sorry. The only reason that I'm and this is the second meeting I've come to because I did come to the last one when it got rescheduled, is because I was born here in 1994. So I have seen the change that has come. I know a lot of people have seen a lot of it. This feels like one of the very few places that feels like Del Ray. Sorry. I'm nervous, so my voice is shaking. I don't like public speaking. The staff at this place is incredible. The community that gathers there is incredible. You guys talked about marketing at your last city commission meeting. This Delray is not the Delray that I grew up in and that I loved. It's overdeveloped.

There's too many people. It feels like Fort Lauderdale at this point. And sub culture is one of the tiny little places that allows people to gather. I understand that there's a compliance issue and all that stuff, but like multiple other people have said, it's not a sub culture issue. I don't know if you guys have ever been to a coffee shop. Most of them act like grab and go. The only reason this one doesn't look like it is because people actually like to be there and they like the staff and it's cozy and a lot of us are remote workers after 2020 and all the things. There was a million other things I wanted to say but I got very angry sitting in this meeting because this is insane. These people for a poem. For a poem, you guys are getting upset that people gathered inside their building.

And I understand that, again, you have to decide on what kind of space this is, and I understand that you pointed out all the parking lot on Atlantic Avenue and all that fun stuff. But guess what? There's no parking anywhere in Delray. Sorry. Excuse me. There's no parking anywhere in Delray, and I have to go round and round and round to find a spot, and that's fine. But my point is is they should not be scrutinized for people actually wanting to be in a place that feels like old Delray. There, again, is a lot of stuff I'm shaking though and I can't speak anymore. So sorry, but I just had to say my piece because this seems completely unfair.

Thank you very much.

Albert Richwagen. Two nine eight Northeast sixth Avenue, Delray Beach, Florida three three four eight three. I wanna clarify one comment about the police calls. Yes. Mister Rose made the number of calls that they said, but I was instructed by the commission at a meeting to text officer Williams all of my complaints.

I made zero calls. I text him from February from 09/05/2025 to 02/05/2026 a 110 times. And I was instructed to communicate with him via text to not call the PD, so that's missing a 110 calls from me. If the owners of subcultures applied one tenth of their time and energy they have on blaming the neighbors, me and mister Rose, in specific, for their noncompliance and lack of parking issues only to incite their clients to harass, threaten, and give us bad reviews, posting a specific commissioner as corrupt, all while playing the victim, has only made this much bigger problem. None of the neighbors have ever asked the city to shut down subculture.

We send our clients there while they're waiting for their bike repairs. My staff loves coffee. Please stop inciting your followers to harass me, my companies with false negative reviews. Stop saying we and the city are trying to shut you down. That is a false narrative. That is simply not true. Stay in your lane, the grab and go coffee lane. We all need to move forward with our time and energy. I respect and support the commission's decision. I wanna thank the police department for its dedication and time for this matter.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, mister Rich Beigut.

Dandruh Rose. 323 Northeast 6th Avenue 33483. I only have three minutes to debunk all the lies that I've been subjected to by mister Mayo. One, I didn't call a 180 times. This this dangerous rhetoric is also defamatory saying I had him criminally charged. Comments on social media calling me embezzler, corrupt, posting my address, receiving death threats, receiving nasty text messages. His customers also had a coordinated attack on my Google business where I received over a half dozen negative reviews for a total of eight negative reviews of customers, clients I don't even have. They're never gonna be clients of mine. I have a very professional private practice. I put on hold my latest project in order to have safeguards to prevent them from negative reviews.

I respect the rules. Here is it and I want the media to see this. This is a ZCU approval for a PPEC and you can look that up. Prescribe pediatric extended care. This was gonna be a facility at my office that was going to take care of fragile children with special needs at no cost to them. Here's the approvals. You can have it. You can look at it anytime. Why couldn't we do it? Well, we're outside the building finalizing how we're gonna transport kids that are handicapped because you have vans and you only have thirty minutes from my center to their location to transport them because some of them are on machines.

Long and behold, a coffee shop customer just drives in and almost bail you know, knocks us out. I had a guy avoid a tow truck. I tore my meniscus because he tried to hit me with his car because the tow truck he saw on-site. Just this last week, the two weeks, I've had a a boat park in front and block my parking lot where I couldn't use it. I had to go park somewhere away from my own office. Customer cars, you've seen the pictures, constantly blocking my space, blocking my ability to back out. So I don't have a PPAC to service these fragile children. So think about the consequences and then we get into the I've never had special events, you forgot one. The Broken Sound Music nightclub event that you were gonna cite him for where he had a nightclub event and apparently something happened with the paperwork that you only sent him a warning letter. So it continues.

But the lies have to stop because they're dangerous and it only takes one person in this room. That's how dangerous this is. Now couple more things I wanna go on grab and go. There's a really great place I go to call Fit Fuel Express. We all know where it is. There's and there's even a coffee shop next door. How come there's no complaints about parking there? Right? Because it's grab and go. That's what grab and go is. How many complaints have we had lately about pop stroke? Remember they'd come in every week. Why? Because pop stroke did something to resolve it. I actually had a a time where I was talking to an employee of mister Mayo's, try to resolve the situation a year or so ago, and, my office got vandalized twice because of his postings.

And and the problem is I said, could you just have someone come outside every fifteen minutes and have them not park illegally? Well, that's too much to ask for. So this is on them. At the end of the day, it has to stop. I mean, I've someone in this room is gonna get served with papers. Not today, but it's coming because I'm I'm not gonna put up with this anymore. It's dangerous, and the threats to you guys too are horrible. I'm sorry I'm out of time, but I think I've stated my peace with everything else. You have everything, but like I said, it's all about honesty. I've never not told the truth, and I'm tired of the gaslighting, the doxing, and everything else that goes with it because that's dangerous rhetoric, and that should be taken into account because they're gonna come here and play not mister nice with you. Oh, we're just nice friendly people. I don't wish what I've been through the last year and

a half Stop.

One second. I don't wish just give me ten more seconds, please.

Thank you, mister Kennedy.

I don't

wish what they did on anyone. And the last thing I leave you, we've been here for

thirty you like to have you would you would you like me to have you removed, ma'am? I'm the chair of this meeting. As as far as I know, I'm still the chair. I accommodated mister Mayo when he wanted to speak extra. I accommodate people when they have something to Just

one more point.

I can take my mom's

time if you want because she's coming up. He's had twenty two days since the last hearing, and he's had two years. What has he done to even remotely fix this problem? The answer is absolutely nothing because we're the ones paying to protect our properties.

Thank you, mister Rose.

For profiting.

Thank you. Extra time.

I appreciate it.

Hi. My name is Cheyenne Murch. I live at 4695 Francis Drive, 33445. His comment already about not having ever said any lies is we have someone that's gonna come up that he created a fake Instagram account pretending to be someone that wanted to threaten him. So all of his physical threats that he's sending you are probably from his fake Instagram account. We track the VPN back to his email address which is fraud. He's not allowed to do that. All of stuff is lies. He says he's only coming after us for parking because he really cares about his business and his children and whatever that he's saying. He has called in us health code for having a dog inside, trying to get a shutdown for health code.

He's called code for having our garbage can a little bit open. He's sued me personally for defamation. He's threatened to expose my OnlyFans as if I didn't expose it myself. If you want the discount code, let me know, brother. He is mentally ill beyond in my personal opinion.

This is not

misinformation. We

we don't do personal commentary and I would and I would and I I'm I would I would urge you to stay on point

Okay. I'll keep going. I'll keep going.

You know to interrupt. Revoke that.

Revoke that he tried just screamed only fans at me over there?

The only person who should be talking is the person

at the podium.

Please keep

this to a minimum.

Thank you. Okay. Just besides him, if Rich Wagon ever calls us, we are very respectful. All my employees are demanded to answer his calls and if there's a car parked, we announce to the entire restaurant, Silver Honda, please go move it and it's not that often. They love when people park there, not Rich Wagon. Honestly, Rich Wagon has called respectful and asked. Someone's parked here, we try to get it moved. That's how the relationship should go. Rose never calls us. He only calls you guys because nobody really ever parks there. He loves to post the videos on Facebook of a car parking there occasionally. I'm there five days a week. Barely anybody parks there. All of our neighbors know he's crazy not to park there. Keep going. You said we have that is a photoshoot that we put for our car. Please direct your

comments to the commission

The to anybody. Our employee car parked in the lot. It was a photoshoot. That car is never there, so just move on from that. The pop up shop is a girl promoting her book while people are standing in line. That's not a special event. Special event is supposed to be using city resources. Everyone says they are driving by but nobody has cited the three box trucks that have been there for two years. You guys said one year it hasn't moved in two years. That's unfair targeting to be driving by and only looking at our shop and then right next to our shop, there's city parking that has been taken up by box trucks for years that would help us but of course, you don't wanna help us, do you?

The parking issue has nothing to do with our events, those ended a year ago. We have parking issue during the day, all of our events were at night so stopping our events was not because of parking. That's not a huge reason why you don't approve our events there because you do not want this positive space because you are dark people. Okay. I don't have okay. I have time. We are majority grab and go. That was true. We did not mislead. Are majority 67% grab and go. Modern Rose is off the Ab, has five parking spots and a shared space. Glimmer has zero parking spots. K. Bye.

Thank you very much.

I'm too short. I don't know if you could if I have to do this.

You have to pull it down so we can hear you a little bit.

It's it's kinda stuck. It's stuck