City Commission - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the City of Delray Beach City Commission Workshop meeting this Tuesday, June 2nd. If the clerk could please call the roll.

Deputy Vice Mayor Markert. Here. Commissioner Mulligan. Here. Commissioner Casale. Here. Vice Mayor Burns. Here. Mayor Carney.

Here. We have a quorum. Thank you very much. We're going to begin the meeting with public comments. We have agenda items here, which you all can see. If anybody has any public comments on these agenda items, now's the time to get up and come to the lectern. You'll each have three minutes. You give your name and zip code for the record. Public comment is now open. We're slowly moving into public comment.

They're asking them. It's everything on the agenda, right? Everything on the agenda.

Items WS2, it's the discussion of mobile food trucks. WS3, the follow-up considerations regarding free ride services. And WS4, discussion regarding the expansion of the entertainment district. Those are the three items on the agenda. Yes, ma'am.

Hi, Shelly Lickisar, Delray Beach DDA Visitor Information Center Coordinator and resident at 33483. I would like to comment on the free ride services that you're going to discuss. From the visitor center, I can tell you we would love to see these expanded, especially going to the tri-rail. We have lots of international visitors who cannot download Uber because their phone number doesn't fit in the Uber format, and they would love to have a way to get a ride, especially to the tri-rail because they enjoy using the rail services a lot. As a resident, I would love to see the downtown ride services expanded so that the local downtown neighborhoods are serviced. If you can get those folks who are right in the vicinity who are going to be coming downtown anyway not to use their cars, it would be a huge bonus. So I think that would be an excellent example of how to expand the ride services.

Thanks.

Great.

Thank you very much.

Good afternoon. Hi. My name is William Mattiello, and I own Mattiello House of Lasagna on Federal Highway. I've been serving the community for several years, and the food trucks are small local businesses that create jobs, bring people to underused areas, and give residents more dining options. I respectfully ask the city to consider creating additional locations where the food truck can legally operate. We are not asking for special treatment, just a reasonable opportunity to do business. More designated area would allow us to serve more residents, participate in community events, and contribute more to local economy. Food truck and brick and mortar restaurant can coexist. We serve different needs and often bring activity to places that would otherwise be empty. So thank you for your time and for supporting the local small businesses.

Thank you very much, sir. Are there any other members of the public wishing to speak on any of these three agenda items?

My name is Chuck Whitley, 33444. Did you bring the sirens too, Chuck? Yes, I did. And it points into the direction I would like to see the entertainment district extended. I think it's about time. I don't think there's no one here that knows how and the desire that this community want in order to see this district extend. Don't remember when it changed. I do remember why it changed. It was to create a pathway to downtown. And at that time, going from what we now call the set to downtown was not deemed safe. There was a time when they changed the traffic lights to accommodate folk leaving downtown to go towards I-95. There was a time when the signage on west of Swinton said no loitering, and the east of Swinton, it was assumed that it was a pedestrian district. siglantic avenue has always historically had a strong entertainment district when it changed it also took out a lot of the lifeblood we would like to see it go back and we would like for the rules to be the same if anything that is good for east of delray answer now one topic only don't get me twisted i'm talking entertainment district What happens on the east should happen on the west. If there are limitations happening on the west, make that happen on the east so that we do not give competitive advantages to the businesses that are on the east. If the rents don't scare them, I don't know what will. But make sure that what we have on the west is able to accommodate the future businesses that we will have come our way. I stand on Atlantic Avenue often. Now, I don't know how to do market counts, but I can count. And to see the amount of cars that come off I-95 and go east, we should actually be excited about what we see go downtown. Let's expand it. Let's not put any barriers for businesses that desire and want a business west of Swinton. One of the best things you can do is strengthen and keep the similar policies that you have downtown.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Hello. Jim Chard, 33483. It's good to see all of you. I'm here to speak a little bit on the food trucks. I think it's one of the More exciting things happening in this city. It's entrepreneurship, it's jobs, and it's good food at a reasonable price. And we have a developing corridor on Federal that you can choose lasagna, you can choose Venezuelan, you can choose Italian pizza. It's fantastic. And I remember once going to Austin, Texas, where they had a whole park of food trucks. And it was a tourist attraction. You had to stand in line to be able to order. And I think a similar thing can happen here. It is a tourist attraction. It is for families. affordable for families, and it lights up federal. So I am anxious to see what you all had to say about it. I know one of the issues is that these are being set up so people can sit down and talk and enjoy our great Florida weather, except on some hot days. But it's colorful. It's diverse. It's what Delray is all about. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

My name is Fred Kent, 11201. That is not Florida, as you can guess. There's so much to talk on, but I do want to talk about street food. And there's a really great program in London that is called the South Bank Center Food Market. So what they do is they have basically small stalls where what might have been a street food type thing could go into the stall. So it isn't like a truck. So you can get more businesses sale in a part of the downtown if it's small stalls that people can come into and put their stuff up. The market in London is three days a week and it's one of the busiest markets and it's really beautiful. Definitely you should have, you know, street food because you get more cultures that way. But you don't have them where in the downtown, in the square, and that would be very helpful to get that kind of food as well. And it's beyond just the street, what do you call them, street? what do they call street uh well street food i mean i have the i have information on it but it's one of the busier places on the south bank in london but it's all separate stores different cultures in a smaller space than it is a truck the trucks get in the way and they're very good in some places but in the downtown core there maybe there's another which is more small stalls that could be used for the same kind of food. So you would get a win-win with the trucks and with the stalls in the downtown. Okay.

Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for your time. I got some notes here. My name is Jose Ney, founder of Ukelele, talking about the food trucks. A Venezuelan outdoor dining concept that starts here in the Ray, back to 2022, with a small rented trailer, limited equipment, and about just $3,000. Not in Miami, not in Caracas, here, right here in the Ray Beach. But before Ukelele arrived, this story had already started during one of the most On certain moments in the recent history, Marcelo and his family, Marcelo right there, started to create what became a Rosano's, an authentic Neapolitan pixel concept built with discipline, consistency, and respect for the craft. Then came the picnic, which helped raise the standard in the area, organization, quality, and presentation. Later, Ukelele joined this corridor with a vision, not only to sell Venezuelan food, but to create an outdoor dining experience where people feel welcome, cared for, and connected. Then came William, with the Mattiello's House of Lasagna, with an authentic recipe from Modena, Italy. And most recently, Roca Turkish Cuisine, right there, with another cultural food concept, correct? Over the years, several other food concepts have passed through this same area. Many of them did not survive. And we believe the reason matters. Today, success is not implied about opening a window and expecting people to buy food. People are looking for places where they feel cared for, places with consistency, identity, and owners who are present. The strongest proof does not come from us. It comes from the people themselves. If you look at the public Google Maps reviews of these businesses, people do not only talk about food. They talk about the vibe, the service, the atmosphere, and the family feeling, and the way they are treated. Those are not marketing words created by us. Those are words chosen by the people who have actually been there, like Mr. Gene. It's also important to clarify that we have not been operating without any control or outside the system. It's important. For years, we have worked on the inspections, recommendation, and operational guidance from the Derry Beach and the state of Florida. We have passed fire department inspections, health inspections, inspections, animal food trucks inspections, and regular compliance reviews. The current operators are updated and compliant. So this is not something untested. This is something that already exists, has already been reviewed, and has already earned public acceptances. You need to wrap it up. Yeah, I'm finishing up. Thank you very much. Don't forget how it was years ago between George Bush and Gulfstream. It was all darkness. Now people just come with the golf carts, stop by. More people is walking around. Also, we got this pop stroke next door. But absolutely, it's becoming more active and more people-oriented. And I appreciate your time. It's something I want to share with you. And we are asking the city to look at what has already happened here and consider it like a pilot already proven. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Are there any other members of the public wishing to address the commission on comments? There we are.

Good evening. Marcelo Rosano, 33444. Good evening, commissioners. Thank you for allowing us to speak tonight. Six years ago, I arrived to Delray Beach with my wife and my young daughter in a simple idea, share authentic Neapolitan pieces with the community. We started as a small food truck, became Rosano over the time. Independent concepts joined us, including Ukelele, Matielos, Roca, Eddie. Together, We are not large corporations, national exchange. We are families, entrepreneurs, and small business owners who choose Delray Beach as our home. What developed in 1402 North Federal Highway is more than a collection of food trucks. It became a place where families gather, neighbors connect, visitors enjoy unique experience. People come not only for the food, but for the atmosphere in the same community. Over the years, we have worked closely with the city of L.A., state Florida, operating under inspection-permitted regulatory oversights. We remain committed, complainants, cleaners, safety, and responsible operations. We also believe that small business have helped bring new life to areas, the ones on the rise during evening hours through the daily effort maintenance, hospitality, consistency. We create destinations that people can really enjoy visiting. Today, we're not asking for limited expansions. We are proposing a thoughtful and organized model to allow maximum of three carefully selected concepts for property, stable long-term business that enhance the community. We are respecting neighbors' traffic, parking, and quality of life. We believe that Delray Beach is already something special here. A model that supports small business, great economy, activities, celebrate culture, strengthen communities, and connections. We're respectful, ask for the opportunity to continue building this vision together with the city. Thank you for the time and the consideration.

Thank you very much, sir. My name is Eddie Estevez. I'm with Don Eddy's Kitchen, one of the food trucks also on the Federal Highway Corridor. And I'm honored to be part of this great group of of excellent food trucks that have offered this area of delray beach the community there an alternative to to being able to get excellent food at a reasonable price giving them a variety people roll up in their in their golf carts and you know we've gotten to know them by name and and i feel that we you know i'm the new guy on the block but i've been there almost 10 months now you know already won a couple awards for my sandwiches so you know i'm honored to be part of this group and i think we offer something great to the community something that the community really enjoys and you know i hope to continue thank you thank you very much

Hi, good afternoon, you all. My name is Logan McLeod, SVP of Business Development for ProCal Mobility, 92108. I'm speaking on behalf of the Freebee expansion. We're another company that operates similar types of services. We're in 13 cities nationally. We're rooted here in South Florida. We operate North Miami Beach with a fixed-route trolley service, as well as on-demand services, as well Coral Springs, and also Tamrac. we do 40 routes a day and pair for a pair of transit operations in palm beach the reason i'm coming up here is i've obviously looked at and done a lot of due diligence research i met with some of you already and talking about some of the pain points with the current services obviously now you're talking about expanding it to now cover the tri-rail um i heard from the woman here talking about for the visit center and getting people employees and visitors to and from that trial which i think is a huge important part as we think about first and last mile It is to connect to other modes of transportation. PalmTran was also discussed, I believe, here, and looking at how you can complement those. So one option that I want to put out there for discussion today is going out to RFP and competitive bid. I believe you would see a lot of companies, including ours, to come in and put forth really good, innovative ideas. really enhance the services that you all are looking to see in the city reduce congestion open up parking and really give residents something that's going to get them out of their cars and using other modes of transportation which is the end goal so offer that as another option and again we are one company that would love to participate and then partner with you all here in the city of Delray thank you very much thank you very much are there any other members of the public wishing to speak

Good evening, guys. My name is Kayhan. I'm on the Roka Turkish Cuisine food truck. My English is not well. I just want to speak a little bit. I just moved one year ago here, and I opened a small food truck here, and I see there is a nice place. The people are so nice, and family, and the local. And then people cannot afford so many expensive restaurants, and they are happy to come to us. And we love to be here, and we're waiting for you guys to support us. Thanks so much.

Thank you very much.

James Shannata, 33483. We own a little business, Angel Street Antiques, 1402 North Federal. Two of the food trucks currently are parked there. It's a really interesting hybrid business model. The food trucks bring business to the shops in the store. The people in the stores, hey, check out these food trucks. We understand the city dictates where they can be, but we would ask the reconsideration on how they operate. It's very restrictive in three days a week, and they have to leave the property. There's a lot of restrictions around how the food trucks can operate, and that's what we'd really like to have looked at. Thank you.

Great. Thank you very much, sir. Seeing no more public comment, public comment is closed. I now turn this over to agenda item WS2, discussion of the mobile home trucks. Mobile food trucks, Mr. Mayor. Mobile food trucks. I know what they are.

Okay. Good afternoon. Anthea Giannotis, Development Services Director. So I think this, we're looking for direction. You've gotten some feedback from our mobile vendors. And just a quick sort of lay of the land of how the rules work now um the food trucks are not allowed in any residential neighborhoods or districts but they're allowed in most of the commercial ones the central business district is limited and i'll explain that in a minute so any of the commercial properties that are in green can have food trucks and then the central business district is a little bit limited When you're hearing that there's a lot of rules, there are a lot of rules. And so I think we need some direction as to how necessary they actually are. I don't know how I'm having feedback with my mic. It's weird. OK. And whether or not we need to enforce the rules, or perhaps the way these businesses have grown, that the rules are what need to be adjusted. So for example, in most of the city, you cannot have a food truck within 200 feet of a brick and mortar restaurant. There's a reason for that. I mean, if you heard Mr. Ridley talk about the rents on East Atlantic, you park a food truck right in front of somebody who's having to pay those rents, you may have some dissatisfaction with those business owners. But I think there's room to expand if you desire. One of the other rules is no seating areas. And we have several that have developed seating areas. And quite frankly, we haven't had any code enforcement calls. No one is worried about the seats. They enjoy the seats. So is this an opportunity where maybe the code needs to change? Or do you really want us to send code enforcement out to chase away the chairs? they are limited in their hours. There's another one. There are other things that have been raised about they can't be in one location for longer than six hours. They're limited the days of the week. And there's only one that's allowed to be there at a time where what we've seen and what we see in other cities is sometimes having more than one actually makes a lot of sense. energy like you like tacos but you know I want a hot dog or things like that so these are just the the rules that are in place now you know we always sort of start really restrictive because it's kind of hard to reel things back so now we are looking for some direction as to whether we should be maybe relaxing some of the rules. So the central business district, which, let's face it, is the highest rents in the city, they're only allowed to be located north of Lake Ida Road, so north of 4th. where downtown has kind of shifted away from being the easy walking pedestrian area where it gets a little bit more vehicular oriented. We have a lovely food truck right now that's on the south side of the street. And honestly, when we've looked at it as a staff, we're wondering if whether we should expand the area in the downtown to third or to second. And then we're going to also talk about the West Atlantic neighborhood in a minute. So those are other you know, considerations for downtown. We're careful with downtown, but we're wondering if, you know, maybe the limited area is a little too limited, perhaps. And having some other options would be possible. So they are definitely operating with a bit more permanency than the code expected. And again, I just confirmed with Jerry, we really haven't had people calling and complaining. They quite like them. We do have them sometimes settling into required parking. We need to make sure that Maybe that's not a problem as long as there's still plenty of room to maneuver. They are not permanent structures. If there's a problem, we could move them along differently, perhaps. The other, I think, thing to consider for downtown is the set. The set master plan was just adopted, and one of the items that was considered within the set was having more opportunities for pop-ups and food trucks. So there's a potential also maybe for allowing them to be located subject to an agreement with the city or some of those on-street spaces or the public lots. There's a limit that you cannot park one on a vacant property, but the West Atlantic area is suffering from vacant properties. So if we could, perhaps in the meantime, as an incubator space and a way to generate more interest, maybe expand some of those uses to the West, that's a consideration that was documented in the SET Master Plan. So ultimately, we're here just to ask, you know, based on the feedback, based on your own experiences, based on the SEP Master Plan, should we be looking to expand the areas where food trucks are allowed? Should we be looking at maybe simplifying and eliminating some of the operational restrictions for the food trucks. Is the seating a problem, or should we take out the rule that it's not a problem, it's just sort of evolved that way? I don't think anybody set out to break any rules, but people get something and they want to sit down, and if we are going to have seating, should we get some sort of sketch plan that kind of shows so that everybody knows your truck goes here, your tables and chairs are going to be there, but hey, it this is a handicapped parking space, don't block it, that type of thing. And that's really what I have to offer at this point. There was discussion about a pilot program. If you're uncomfortable with a permanent expansion of the rules, maybe there's something we could do designating them, including some of these vacant lots, and seeing if it works, like it has been working, then there's not a problem. But if there are problems, then we could sort of adjust.

Thank you very much. To the commission. Commissioner Casale.

Sure. So first I would say that I enjoy the food trucks. The gentleman from Euclid, I know I'm pronouncing it wrong, has the best hamburger around. The Italian has the best cannolis, and my daughter loves the pizza. So I think we should establish a pilot program as quickly as possible. I always worry about making big changes without understanding the ramifications. I do think we should probably try to keep the 200 foot. But in terms of the no seating areas, I think they need to have seating areas. That kind of creates the exciting environment for people to go to. I think you have to have an open time earlier in case someone's serving a breakfast item. Nine to midnight seems like we could do earlier. I like the idea of more than one in a location because the family has the options of different dining experiences. If you have a child and adults, they don't always want the same thing. I don't think we should limit them to four days a week at all. And I think expanding to third and West Atlantic is a good idea. And I really would just say that I love hearing the stories here today because this is like the American dream. I came here to Delray Beach. I had very little. I created this business. And I just love hearing that. And I think that, you know, we can do something that won't affect the downtown businesses but still allows these businesses to expand and thrive. I'm excited. Thank you.

Commissioner Malika? Sure.

Yeah, I kind of brought this forward because it's important to me, I think, to change some of the rules that are being broken but nobody's complaining about. So I think that we need to memorialize those. I agree with the more than one truck on a lot. That rule should, I guess we could go right to the ordinance and talk about each one. that they don't have to move, because it's confusing. It says mobile shall not be parked on a location for longer than six hours, but then up there it says the MDVs are not subject to that duration of stay. But I think we should remove the duration of stay, allow seating and some lighting, not necessarily to be picked up every evening, but not allowed to sprawl. Now, I don't know how you would sort of define that. We'd have to figure that out. I already said that more than one food truck should be able to operate at one time. And that... Okay, that's already said that part. I think that is it, but I reserve the right to talk again.

Oh, I know.

Sorry. Sorry. Oh, my god. OK, it was too soon? So with regard to the set master plan and that being involved in it, I'm very excited for something to be able to pop up. Now, do we just go in vacant lots? Who owns those vacant lots? Do we need permission? I see that we've got about 59 churches in the set. I don't know if that's something that could be allowed there that could create some activity. I don't know if there's a desire for that, but certainly that could be an option. That's it.

Thank you very much.

Commissioner Burns. Yes, thank you. So I am in support of expanding the services that the food trucks are allowed to provide currently. I am always a supporter of small business and entrepreneurship. And I think that we should look at these operational restrictions and make it so that people can be successful in what they're doing. The seating, you've got to have some seating. And it's nice and a great thing to hear that there hasn't been any complaints. I've not had food at all of them yet, but I have on a couple of them. But I'm looking forward to that award-winning sandwich. Yes. But I am in support of relaxing some of these restrictions and also in favor of the vacant lots being used as well. Thank you. Mr. Marker.

Yep.

First of all, I'm a food truck fan, so I come at this from a very positive standpoint. I love food trucks. I think we are, like everything you presented, I mean, I'd say yes to seating. I do think we will need a sketch on that so it doesn't get out of hand. Seven days seems to make sense to me. You know, I don't have a problem with Duration of stay on a lot is as long as they're continuing to operate It's another thing if they're closed five days a week and only open to but if they're operating I don't I don't have a problem with the truck staying there and I think just lastly from everything that I heard I think the best thing in it would be if we could write up a new set of rules that we can all review and hopefully check with some of the nice vendors who came today to see if we're addressing their needs and ours. But I think this is a good thing for our community, so I'm definitely in favor of doing it. All good comments.

I echo what my colleagues have said. I live off of North Federal, so I get to walk to all of them, and they're all great. And the sandwich shop, by the way, I love it. I stop and get the gas there, and then I go to the sandwich shop. They're great sandwiches. Mattiello's knows because I go there and I pick up what I consider to be the best bolognese sauce ever. In Delray Beach, I just pick up that and I go home and I cook it so I go to the restroom They're all great. I do think that having more than one truck at a located depending on the size of the lot We have to figure out whether it but if they can accommodate to Nick or accommodate three it does create a buzz There's a place out there was in Sarasota. I went a couple years ago. There's every weekend. There's a food truck they all gather in one place and it's like 40 food trucks and all different kinds of, you choose your cuisine, there's a food truck port. And so I think that's a great idea. I don't think they should be used in public parking lots. I don't agree with that portion because public parking is too hard. Plus there's enough private parking lots around that we all know that they should be able to accommodate some of these things if they can kind of deal with them. I love the idea of being able to use church parking lots because these are largely unused during the week, and they could create a great sense of community, along with Mr. Kent said. The food hall he's talking about is right near Waterloo Station, and it's created an entirely new environment there. It's been fabulous. So I'm actually for all of that. Seating, you've got to have seating. As always, our code is about 10 years behind. So we need to bring it in because I think everybody likes them. West Atlantic is trickier. As long as they can do it and not interfere with the neighbors, that's a great idea because there's a lot of residential components there, a lot more heavily so than in the CBD. And are we talking about trying to bring the food trucks south of George Bush? Because right now I think they're all north of 4th, right? They're north of 4th.

So then the question is, can the line move a little bit south without negatively impacting other downtown businesses? And at least a third.

I'm not positive the people that go to food trucks are the ones that go to the restaurants anyway. I'm sure there is some crossover, but I think usually it's a very different clientele.

you know the ones that I see anyway what about just as a point of clarification and whatever the answer is is fine I just want to sure I have it right I understand the public parking spaces but in the West Atlantic what about if there was an agreement with the city for using an on-street space Unlike East Atlantic, the West Atlantic on-street spaces tend to be open. There would obviously be liability and agreement that would be required, but is that something we could look at or don't go there?

I would look at that, but again, I think we have to do it as a pilot.

We're talking about a pilot program. We're talking about a pilot program.

I think I would do that in a pilot program to see how it works. I mean, there's not going to be activity there for...

You know, come back. You know kind of what we all, I mean, I think everybody really wants this. We don't know as well as you know what the guidelines probably could or should or should not be.

Mostly we just need to erase, but, you know, that we can. So that sounds great.

That sounds great. And for all my other restaurant friends, I didn't mean it about the bolognese sauce. I did. I really did. Anyway. Yes.

So no one failed to mention the award-winning short rib lasagna that's in one of these trucks that I love.

That's the place with the cannolis.

It's so good. Anyway, thank you all very much. Do we need anything else? Are we all set on that?

Great. You've got direction. Let's see what the pilot program is. Perfect.

Okay, moving on to the discussion of the free ride services. That will be Missy Barletta, won't it be? There you go.

You can, they can leave.

Thank you. Thank you. I'll have to try it.

Thank you, guys. I will, I will. They're waving at you. Oh, bye-bye, guys. See you.

Are you all set, Ms. Barletto?

Good afternoon, mayor and commissioners. I'm here to talk a little bit about free ride services in the city. So the history of the current program, we have a program with BeFree, which operates on the road as Free Bee. And this has been in place since September of 2019 with the CRA that began those point-to-point transportation services. In 2022, the CRA transferred the program to the city and the city issued an rfp for fixed and point-to-point transportation services and the only bid that we received at that time was from freebie or be free however you want to say it okay so um There was a lot of discussion about how to structure the program during that RFP award. There were six different transportation options that were brought forward, whether we wanted to use the gem cars, which is what we have there now, the glorified golf carts, and Teslas was one of the original options. options and to do the fixed route and the point-to-point service and expanding the service boundary to include the tri-rail station. The commission opted at that time to keep the existing service boundary and the gym vehicles the same and reallocate additional funds needed at that time to expand those services to the renovations at the crest theater so that is the the kind of the history of how we got to where we are in budget years since 2022 commission consensus has remained steady to keep the current service boundary however at our recent goal setting session you asked us to look into expanding the service and bringing different forms of transportation. And that's what we're going to talk about today. Currently, there are five gym vehicles that serve the Delray Beach service boundary. These are low-speed vehicles, which means they are restricted by statute from being able to travel on roads with speed limits of 35 miles per hour or more. So they can only go on lower-speed streets, which is why we, with this type of vehicle, In the inventory, we cannot at this time include the tri-rail station. Ride requests are required to either pick up or drop off at a location within the central downtown core. So ridership reports, there's a lot of discussion about how long the wait is to get a ride. 52% of wait times were between zero and 15 minutes. 90% of the riders are requested through the online app for a freebie. The average driver rating is 4.9%. or five. That's the average rating. The most common pick up and drop off locations are the two and 300 blocks of East Atlantic Avenue in the entertainment district and the 1200 block of East Atlantic Avenue in the beach district. Most of the users for the freebie service are 21 to 35 years of age. And the second, um, the second largest user group are those that are 35 to 50 years of age. So this is one of the reports that we get on a regular basis. This is the ridership just for April of this year. There were 4,056 completed rides during the month of April. The average driver rating was 4.94. The total passengers in those 4,000 rides were 810. were 8,891. This map shows the existing freebie service. There are a few things on here. The bright green, spring green color on the map shows the existing CRA service area that we've chosen to retain since 2022. The downtown core is hatched in that turquoise color. The potential expansion areas are marked in the kind of yellow cream color. And the LSV, the low speed vehicle restricted routes are marked in red up there. You ready for me to move on? Okay.

Please.

All right, so the current program, the original gym vehicles were wrapped with Delray Beach until approval to allow advertising came from commission in order to subsidize the costs of the service. So this is what they look like originally on the left and then how they look now on the right. And there is still a city of Delray Beach logo on it, although small. So one of the things that we wanted to talk to you tonight about is about bringing an enhanced program. There are a number of different vehicles that Freebie has available to us to use. More recently, they've started using the new Volkswagen ID. which is an electric Volkswagen bus reminiscent of the 1960s version of the VW bus. And currently they have more than 50 in service in other areas. So some of the benefits for the city to moving from the gym cars to the ID Buzz are that they have a much higher battery range than the gym, three times greater. They provide climate control inside the cabin so you're not riding out in the air if it's raining or whatever. They have a higher seating capacity. They're resilient to severe weather. And they have service area flexibility since it's not a low-speed vehicle. Plus, they have a higher safety rating. So in addition to that, Freebee over the years has expanded their technology capabilities. They can customize that based on the needs of the city. However, we wish to do that. There have been times when we've utilized the Freebee app to promote events downtown or to direct people to different activities that the city might be sponsoring. Examples of some of that include some of the, in Seminole County, they have a scout system, which has completely replaced their former bus system with the ID Buzz and the app where they can call the Buzz to come and pick them up. Here's a picture of what their scouts look like and a typical wait time by hour for that service in Seminole County, which you know is adjacent to Orange County and growing by the day. So other technology capabilities include creating a fare-based system with fares based on zone or distance traveled, providing student senior discounts, resident discounts, low-income fare reductions. I know that you are not interested in a fare-based system, but I did want you to know that it is available if that is a future choice. Eligibility of discounts can be verified through the freebie app. So some of the questions that we have for you as far as determining the path arrived for services moving forward, at goal setting you had a lot of, there was a lot of talk. There were a lot of ideas that were put out there as far as expanding the freebie service to cover the entire city limit and pick no limit on pick up and drop off location. or whether we wanted to target certain business areas for expansion in order to do some economic development on that front. Some of the questions we have for you as staff so that we can bring you the program that you're really looking for. is I actually have a proposal for you tonight to expand the service from what we currently have, which costs us $508,000 a year, to replacing all of the gym cars with the ID Buzz cars and including the tri-rail station. just to give you for discussion purposes to give you an idea it would be the same number of vehicles but we would increase the service area to include all of Atlantic Avenue to Congress and then to the tri-rail station And that comes at an increased cost to the city of $71,000. Whether you want us to bring that forward in the coming budget year, or if you're looking for additional items to add into that proposal list that we can bring back to you for adoption.

Is that $71,000 for the year? Yes. That's an annual cost?

Yes. That's an increase. It's an increase of $71,000 over what we're currently paying.

Okay, would you like to start Commissioner Monica? Yes, thank you.

I would have a great interest in expanding it. I have no problem in fair base. You said that we might. I have zero problem with a fair base system depending on what it is, but I think there's a whole big picture that we need to see just beyond what we've always done to what can possibly be. My interest in moving it to the tri-well or even beyond and possibly find parking hubs is to relieve congestion and relieve parking and i think that we can do this with this kind of a program whether it's something we pay for or whether it's fair base but we have to see what all is out there in my opinion um so i do think an rfp would be appropriate to see what other companies there are what do they have to bring What can they save us or how much it cost so I would like to expand what we've done and look look around and I did speak with Whatever company he's Sorry, and that's that's I mean, there's some good companies that I've looked into that I think could bring this city Some some more ideas about how to move forward Thank you very much Commissioner Burns

Yes so definitely interested in expanding the service however when you talked about going through and expanding the service that did not include an RFP correct?

No ma'am the current the current contract has renewals available on it and the current provider is willing to provide whatever services you're interested in expanding to

and but we don't know what those are because i heard you say they have expanded technology capabilities however um i didn't see or hear what they were however you know like uh commissioner mulligan i did talk to some others and you know i i heard things like connecting to the bus schedule um connecting their schedules to a bus schedule pre-scheduling rides um knowing where the empty parking lots parking spaces are um just lots of different things that we're not getting now. And I would like to see, you know, are we getting the best price? How do we know that $5,000, $500, whatever, that $8,000 a year, is that the best price? So I really think that we need to expand it to TriRail, but I'm interested to see what else is out there and available.

I'll be quick. I'm very much in favor, Missy, of expanding what we have. I think the service is well used right now. I think it could be even better. I think expanding the train station makes all the sense of the world. I agree with what Commissioner Mullick has said. It could relieve some of the congestion in the parking that we have downtown, which we would all love to do. So my ask would be that we... We look at all available options, and then you come back to us with what you found, including costs, and then let's make a decision. I think this one's a no-brainer that we want to do something. We just need to figure out who the right partner is, my view.

So are you asking for an RFP?

I think an RFP would be good. Commissioner Casale.

Thank you. My only concern, and I've always felt like we need to expand because it doesn't seem right to have every taxpayer paying for it and then only some can utilize it. That's always bothered me. And what you're talking about here when you're expanding is the same number of vehicles. So you're expanding your area, but you're going to slow down. You're going to have a lot more wait time, right? Yeah.

Because these vehicles have a three times larger capacity. Oh, gotcha. So you're picking up a lot more availability by not being on a charger so often.

Understood. So again, too, to the fare-based idea, well, first I'll hit that. I want to expand the area, but I think we need to expand through the whole city if the taxpayers are paying for this, in fairness. Yes. I don't think there's anything wrong with doing fare-based if it's a small fare, $3 ride or $2 a person or something like that. Because if you have people coming in from out of the area, they're going to utilize that. The taxpayers are going to utilize it. I think if it's a small fee, people will be happy to pay it. When we're talking about expanding, obviously, I think wait time is important to us. And yes, I think if we're expanding, we're obviously going to the trial. So I guess I think you've got three people saying, go out and let's create an RFP. And see what's out there.

I also met with the gentleman, Mr. Logan McLeod.

And, you know, I think there are other options. And I think the freebie service has been amazing for us. They've been a great, you know, they've provided a fabulous service. I've been very happy with them. But it's not unreasonable to just see what's out there and see what works for our residents at the best price we can get.

thank you thank you my colleagues have covered much of what I was going to cover let me just let me just say that one of the things we did discuss a goal setting and the point was made that all of the taxpayers actually pay for this so it really is incumbent on us to to have this available throughout the city now there may be I'm still I still believe that the pickup and or drop-off needs to be with downtown which is what we're trying to support But if you're out in Banyan Creek, for example, should that be a fair base thing? Maybe it should, maybe a small amount. But I don't want them to go in from Banyan Creek to my house because that doesn't, for me, that's not what the purpose of this trip is. It's to really bring people to and from downtown to relieve the parking pressures we have downtown, which are pretty heavy. um so the expansion of service to me throughout the city is really key um and i i i think that since we are talking now about and obviously to to to the tri-rail station that was a given we used to have that i don't understand why we lost it but anyway we did but now we'll hopefully get it back soon um we're really talking about 200 or so expansion of the current service area which i think really suggest that we do need an RFP for, because it is a much bigger project. And I'm not, this is nothing, no casting spurs on freebie service, it's a great service. But I would like to see what else is out there, because technologies have changed. There's a lot of other expertise out there. I have not met with this gentleman, but I know his types of companies, others exist. So I think we should hear from them. As Mr. Marker said, let's explain, let's see what the options are, what we are, and let's decide what we want to go out with with an RFP and go out with the RFP and see what we can generate. And if it has to include some fare-based to offset costs, I'd pay $2 to $3 so I don't have to go look for a parking spot. I got to tell you. And I know it's 15 minutes at the ready wait. So if they're going to take me home, that's great. $3 to get me home. That's perfect. So whatever the fare base, you're going to have to calculate what you think that number is, what's the fare number. Maybe there's no charge of its inter-core. Maybe if they're already downtown and they're going downtown, like from where you talked about the 300 block of Atlantic to the beach, maybe that one's free. It's what's coming in and out of the downtown is really what we're talking about, in my view, about the fair base. If they're already downtown running around, I feel differently about that.

There was some discussion at goal setting about expanding to other areas. business areas of the city. So instead of just only limiting the either pickup or drop-off location to the downtown core, is there interest in creating that for the Linton Boulevard core, the Congress Avenue core, or even the military trail?

I think we should look at all. I think this is going to be a citywide service. We have to figure out where we want our pickups and drop-offs to be. Okay. And then and I will tell you there I understand the capacity of the vehicles are greater but I don't see how you do this program with six vehicles but that's always a function of or five vehicles or three I'm just saying that's why I want to see an RFP I want to see somebody come back tell me this is what we're proposing the average wait time is going to be this it's going to cost this and but we're going to be able to service all these people and I think that's you know

So the other question about that, if we're going to start considering fares, are we also going to continue to allow the vehicles to offset the cost to the city by selling advertising?

I don't think we know that yet.

I mean, we are doing it already.

Yeah, I mean, every city I've been in, the taxi cabs have something on the top. So, you know, I mean...

And the ID buzz in those cars, they have like a little television screen on the back. Yeah, I saw that. So the wrap would still be more, this is a Delray City provided service.

Does anybody have any issue with that?

I liked when the vehicles, when people understood that that's a service the city is providing. Mm-hmm. I like that.

The only problem is they offset a lot of the costs. 14%. It's a 14% subsidy.

But right now we're not charging people.

Right.

So I think we need to look at it just to see.

And on the charging thing, I just got to throw this in. Let's not overcomplicate this one. Let's learn our lessons from downtown parking that no one understands. I mean, we can't have a complicated ride system. I mean, we just can't do that. But I'm not against... you know, the wraps on the vehicles or naming rights on buildings. I'm not against any of that, and I think we should look at it because it does serve to offset a lot of costs that all of us in this room are going to have to write a check for at the end of the year if we can't offset those costs. So I think if it's done tastefully, it doesn't bother me.

I see this in other places, too, where every fifth frame is going to be – there's some downtown event we're having. So Delray's promoting itself in these places. So there's a lot of ways to promote your own city, promote what you're doing, while at the same time let the cabbie, whatever we're calling them, make some money off the running of the vehicle.

I just would like to add, I don't know who would look for this or if we're allowed, but I would like to see a parking area because the tri-rail doesn't allow a large enough parking area beyond the tri-rail customer. So is there ever a possibility of the county building, the south county building, allowing us to have a parking hub there? I would have an interest in not only a point-to-point, but maybe a route system where I know I'm going to park here, I'm going to get picked up at whatever, whatever. So I know I just threw a wrench into it.

Not really. If we're going to go out for an RFP, we can also include that original route that we had from Tri-Rail to downtown.

Okay, thank you. Any possibility of looking into any other parking areas? That's a good question.

People could drive there, park there, and pick up the transportation there. That would be great.

But we need a parking spot.

I'm saying, see if we can negotiate whether or not people could park there and they'd pick up the vehicle.

Who does that negotiation?

Well, no, that's a county. It's not what we did.

No, I know, but I mean, who are we?

The city would have to engage and connect with Palm Beach County regarding those possibilities. So as the selection process ensues, we would make that part of the consideration process. Not to mention, we would employ interested parties to employ whatever ingenuity they can to help us evaluate what options might be necessary. So that does connect. And to some extent, that's a possibility. However, given the relationship with Palm Beach County, we would be in position to engage with them in terms of any logistical arrangements we would make to facilitate that. Really, the possibility may be to advise Palm Beach County that, hey, we hope to utilize this particular location with no problems. People can park with people actually parked there to ride the tri-row train. So it would be a similar practice in this regard to connect with this particular service as well. So it may not be that challenging. However, once we initiate the selection process as being directed this evening, we would make that part of the mix.

Thank you.

You're welcome. Thank you.

Everybody, you know what you're doing? Thank you very much.

Good job, Missy.

Thank you.

You'll have all this for us next meeting?

No I'll have it for you sometime in the next year.

Oh, there we go. Let's try to do it earlier Anyway This is WS for this is a discussion regarding the expansion of the entertainment district

so I think as you consider this item I wanted to make it kind of clear about what is the entertainment district because I think there's some perceptions that I want to make sure everyone's really clear on what it does the entertainment district allows for higher noise levels later into the evening. It does not change the uses that are allowed on the site. It doesn't change the review process for what's allowed on the site. It's simply the noise level and how late into the day, so it's loud or longer. That's the key, loud or longer. So right now, this is the current boundary of the entertainment district. And it's basically the core of downtown This is the louder part and the news new noise ordinance you can see that during active hours there are decibel limitations for different uses and Then all uses within the entertainment district have a slightly higher amount and doesn't matter if it's residential commercial or whatever and then quiet hours are also a little bit louder and So quiet hours in the rest of the city pretty much start at 10 o'clock. If you are in the entertainment district, you get to go until midnight on weekdays. And then this was really weird to try to describe. And then Saturday night until 1 AM Sunday morning, and Friday night until 1 AM Saturday morning. And then everybody starts again at 7 in the morning the next day. So it's louder longer. It does not automatically allow anyone to have a late night business. In the city, all businesses are allowed to operate until midnight. If you want to go later than that, then we evaluate your location. And if you are within 300 feet of residentially zoned property, not a residential use, because some of our downtown has lots of residential uses in it, but they're zoned central business district, then you need a conditional use. So here's an example. This property right here, the corner of Southeast First and the Northbound Federal, this is within the entertainment district. Now, to be clear, this property is not trying to do anything. If they're watching, you're just a locational example. They do not have an application in, nothing like that.

But if they wanted to be open after midnight, they would have to come before this board for conditional use because they are within 200 feet of RM zoning.

So it has to do with your location. It's not... So now, they can be louder until midnight than this property right here that is not in the entertainment district, or this one, or this one. But it's still your business hours are the same if you're so. When you're looking about expanding to the West Atlantic area, it's important to note that the existing entertainment district is sort of surrounded by mixed use zoning. There's a couple spots here where, you know, it's bumping right up against RM. And what's different with the block structure as you go west is the same block moves into single family pretty quickly, right? So there's transitions and compatibility over the activity levels that you should be mindful of when you're making this decision. The set master plan, again, wanted to see entertainment and hospitality clusters, restaurants, music clubs, and theaters. Within the mixed use zoning, those uses are already allowed. You can have a restaurant, you can have a bar, you can have a theater. All bars in the city are subject to 750 feet separation requirement, and there are state separation requirements from schools. So if you're looking at the West Atlantic area, any of the dark green, which is the central business district, you can have those uses on 5th, which is the historic main street of the neighborhood. You can already have those uses. You have a restaurant, you have a bar, you have a theater. If you are along Atlantic Avenue, you have required retail frontage. That's meant to be very lively. Those are some of the uses that are allowed to be there that are required. You can't have office quite as much. And then if you're in this area, where now the block is transitioning to residential, The current rules require conditional use for commercial uses. Those of you that were on the commission will remember, I believe, a restaurant on the north side near Mr. Hatcher's building had to get conditional use because now you're kind of next door to people's homes, and are you going to have a parking issue? You want to evaluate the impacts. And the reason for this is just that, again, the block structure is very different. It moves into homes. um we have pulled a bunch of the team pulled some information on where these more lively uses historically have been over time and they've sort of gone away because this became a fire station for example that's the fire station where before it had restaurants and bars and billiard groups social clubs generally are not allowed downtown anymore anywhere it's not unique to west atlantic bottle clubs are not permitted anywhere so some of those sort of older fashion type of uses are not really allowed downtown at all. So I think the consideration on expanding, just so you're very clear, if you expand the entertainment district, you're allowing the noise levels to go up, you're allowing the noise to be louder, you're not necessarily eliminating a conditional use process if the site is within 300 feet of residential zoning, which these areas do tend to shift into pretty quickly. All bars in the city cannot be closer than 750 feet to another bar within 300 feet of a school. That's also a state law for the 300 feet to a school. So this neighborhood organically does have some limitations just in terms of there being churches and schools so closely. However, this body has considered waivers from the distance separation between alcohol establishments before on a case-by-case basis downtown. This would still be an available process there. And so I think if you are considering the differences now that we have the noise ordinance adopted, do we want to have a different approval process not only for if you expand it to west atlantic but for the downtown like maybe we establish a less expensive minor conditional use process where we all agree that certain livelier uses you know are okay you can have outside music or something like that we can look at that so i think right now the question is whether want to make the louder longer rules I think it's the easiest way to think of it available on West Atlantic or not with the understanding this rule is not part of the West Atlantic you know of the entertainment district itself I hope that's clear as mud I hope I got it I'm here if you have any questions okay

Well, let me just start. I was actually part of the whole process when the entertainment district was founded. And it was designed to try to bring everybody downtown. And it did a great job. But at the time it was put in place, there were really no residential properties. We didn't have to worry about that because there was no residential properties. Fast forward to today, I do understand why West Atlantic wants to have an entertainment district. They want to be able to do certain things in the entertainment district. But it's not the same comparison. It's not when they say we want the same and we want the same. It's not the same because those neighborhoods are generational neighborhoods that are residential neighborhoods. And, you know, they bought these homes with the understanding that they were going to live in and around a residential area. So all of a sudden say, oh, by the way, a block and a half away, we're going to allow this facility to have music until 2 o'clock in the morning. We hope you're okay with that. You know, I just don't see that. But I'm not opposed to moving an entertainment district there. I just don't know that I want to adopt the same one we have now, which includes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. I mean, we're talking about a weekend. I feel a lot differently about it. This is me. I feel differently if you're talking about a weekend. But I do think that the hours of operation need to be watched carefully because, as I said, everybody who moved downtown knew they were moving into an entertainment district. And we say to them, well, you move next to the airport, you're going to have planes. I mean, that happens. So that is my only concern. Because the noise level is... Is the noise level and and I just want to try to keep the integrity in of the of the residential neighborhoods just as best I can well at the same time encouraging because I don't want to be not encouraging and I'm not trying to discriminate against he said well, you know, you don't want to make it more favorable downtown than it is here, but They are not they are not Apples to apples they are two separate communities and they've always been two separate communities. It's a residential community Anyway, that's my two cents Commissioner Yes, sure.

Thank you. And I agree in the last time we talked about this I said I have concerns about this and I say that only because I sat up here when I People were coming in every meeting and complaining about music. So the question is, how do we encourage businesses? I want to be clear. We're approving louder, longer, but everybody would still have to come before us for a conditional use, or we can change it to a minor use for you to review. Will that include outside use? It would also be a conditional use that they'd have to ask for, right? Would this get, I mean.

So there are specific outside uses in the code right now, like sidewalk cafe, having nursery plants, things like that. I'm talking music. But any other outside uses, like when Boston's wanted, I think it's Boston's, That's on A1A, the business right next to it. When they wanted their outside use area, they had to get a conditional use approval anyway, because that use is not listed as one of the ones that are just by right, like sidewalk cafe or nursery plants.

Right.

So there's that's another tier, right? It could be your inside. and you can be louder until midnight. It's louder inside. It doesn't bother me so much. But if you're outside, it's different. Maybe that would just still fall to conditional use. And if you're open at all past midnight, again, it's locational. It depends. This property that's right bordering single family would absolutely need conditional use. I don't know that this one would, depending on how we measure them.

We do a buffer from them when they come in, and we just say where you're within.

which if you think back to Bounce, right? Right. Bounce was trying to come into Atlantic Crossing, but they were within 300 feet of Palm Trail.

Right.

Bounce went over into the Delray Beach Market. They are not 300 feet within any residential zone property. They did not require conditional use to go there.

Right. Understood.

So that's kind of how it works everywhere.

Because I'm with the mayor on this, if at all. I'm very nervous about doing this, but I understand that it's probably the necessary next step for development. What about if we make the louder, not as loud, the longer, not as long, as you're saying, and do some restrictions? Because I can say to you, from personal experience, playing tennis out at the tennis center on a Friday night, I can hear loud and clear the music. I can hear the drums. You can hear everything. And there does have to be some consideration of the people that are living in close proximity because they are there. So I mean, it's hard for me to gauge what is a five-point increase in the decibel, but maybe we do it 65 in that area. And we, you know, consider it to maybe end earlier on the weekdays.

So I think Central Business District, not in the Entertainment District, falls under Commercial. So it's already 65. So I think it's maybe more, it would be about expanding the active hours past... 10 p.m. perhaps would be maybe it's more about that, that you can go to midnight on Friday and Saturday nights. Right.

I think that's totally reasonable, Friday and Saturday night.

I can. I think it's a start. I don't know. Trying to creep my way to get here to see whether or not what we're doing isn't going to be, I mean, I don't want to establish something and have it, like, fall apart where we have to bring things back. I'd rather grow into it to see we're going to try this, and if it works, we can say, well, maybe we can expand it. So I don't know. Commissioner, are you finished? Commissioner Burns?

Yes, thank you. Well, I don't believe that we have to walk anything back. I support extending the district. I just believe that it's a matter of fairness and equity and keeping promises to our community. Businesses and residents west of Swinton should have the same opportunities to benefit from the same policies, the same incentives, and the same vibrancies that have helped businesses thrive on the east side. Those homes that I know that it does transition to a residential, but they're still gonna be residential. It's not going to change. And businesses are only going to be where businesses are allowed to be. And so we still have to, as you say, come to the commission for conditional use. We still you're not eliminating any of those those rules. So you're making it louder and longer. the same way that it is on the east side, and I'm in favor of that. Whether we crawl into it or not, that's okay, but I think that we need to move forward with making these changes and including West of Swinton in this entertainment district.

Can I just ask a point of clarification? Commissioner Burns was talking about the business. I don't think the types of businesses are not – the entertainment district doesn't give you the ability to run a different kind of a business or not. We're just talking about hours of operation. Because, I mean, what you can do in the CBD on West Atlantic, you can do in the CBD East Atlantic. I mean, it's the same business. So what we're really talking about is the hours of operation, you know, of – And noise levels coming out of a facility.

And to be clear, not all of CBD is in the entertainment district, correct? I mean, so when you start getting further north and you're out of the core, you know, the entertainment district doesn't include Atlantic Crossing, for example. It doesn't include the A1A properties. Right. And then as you go south, down, and north of Dixie, where it transitions more quickly into Palm Trail and the other neighborhoods, it's not there. I think the... Based on my experience here in the city, the bigger issues are when it's an outside activity, like Pop Stroke, which is also not in the entertainment district, but we heard a whole lot of people coming out to complain. And, you know, acoustics are tricky. So I think my... I would just caution you against sort of like letting the outside uses get away from us because that's where we have the issues, right? And the conditional use process allows you to pull them back in or force some level of action if there's a problem. This is, again, inside uses that we could allow. Again, this isn't everywhere on the east side, so I don't think it's fair to characterize it that way either. If we're saying it's on Atlantic Avenue, it's still not everywhere on Atlantic Avenue, because once you go past it's not there either.

And it still won't be in every place on West Atlantic Avenue either. That's the way I see it. And when I'm referring to the businesses, I'm talking about the millions of dollars of redevelopment that's coming down West Atlantic Avenue for any potential business that may open so that they have that same opportunity.

And I think you also have to recognize that the way the neighborhood grew historically is that Fifth is the main street. So Fifth is... You know, that's where we want to also encourage more activity. And it does transition quickly into single family and residential. But that's how this neighborhood grew. So if they want to see more of it back, are we talking about fifth as well or just staying on the ave? I think those are the questions, too. When you talk about Northwest North Western Southwest that that the historic Main Street so when you look at where the businesses were located.

Right, I think it would definitely have to go up 5th Avenue that is that is the traditional history and doing it if we look at the avenue. Sorry, so this is the 1950's you have to get out of the country to kind of a group right now got to go north and south down the avenue so it's not just here.

So I think that

And I concur. You can't take away the classic Main Street.

That's maybe even more important place to do it if you're going to try to move forward with that.

Commissioner Judy yeah, I think one of the things that Kind of confuses me is we're developing West Atlantic. I want to promote Lively entertainment. I want to go all the way down the avenue, but we're also talking about residential in there But putting residential in some of the parcels and I don't understand I feel like those two aren't are kind of mutually exclusive if that is the plan to have residential on Atlantic Then do you want a bar right there open till 2 in the morning? So I'm confused about that, but I guess that 300 feet rule would rule that out. Is that right?

It wouldn't because it's 300 feet from residentially zoned property, not residential uses that are located in the Central Business District. And that does get tricky. You're right. Thank you.

So I know the community has definitely wants this. I want it. But have the homeowners been asked? Has there been a study done with people within that area of individual homes? I don't know if there has been.

That's where I was actually going to go, because I think if we are, when I talked about dealing with a lot of legacy neighborhoods here, generational people living in the same house, I actually think we ought to reach out to them and see what they want. I mean, whether they would be happy with

I live there.

I'm cool with it, but I'm down. I'm always drawn because I love the idea of doing it. I think it would be good for developing businesses on the corridor. And, you know, I mean, the people getting off I-95, correct me if I'm wrong, they're passing a lot of business. If they see one they stop, they can stop they like, they can enjoy it, and everyone, win-win. I'm just worried about the noise five days, you know, seven days a week. I mean, my thinking is different if I'm talking Friday and Saturday than if I'm talking Tuesday and Wednesday.

Can I? Oh, yeah, sure. Just real quick, I'm probably going to say what's been said. But I went to all the residence meetings over the past couple of years on West Atlantic. We've been looking at different options there. And I heard pretty clearly from the residents, and I feel for them, that have houses there. Because those neighborhoods are very close to the street there. They are, and I know how I would feel if, you know, I'm trying to raise a family and suddenly there's a ton of loud music and stuff. So I think putting some caps on what we can and can't do makes a lot of sense. And I also hope that, you know, as we grow West Atlantic that we can – not have the density for some of the bars in particular that tend to have outside music and things like that. I think we got to be careful and be respectful to the neighbors that are there because they're close. I mean, they're really close there. And I think we got to look out for them.

And we have to ask them.

Yeah. Yeah.

So maybe the takeaways. Because we can't assume anything for anyone. We have to ask them.

I agree. That's what I said.

I agree. No, I'm commenting off of what I heard Commissioner Marcus say. Fair point.

So maybe I'll reach out to our partners at the CRA to help me. Speak to the property owners and the residents, and then we'll circle back.

I'll do it on the one that I have scheduled for the 15th, I'll do it. 15th of June?

July.

I'll work with Renee from the CRA and we'll go back out and talk.

Commissioner Burns is going to make this the topic of her July 15th burning conversation, so we'll get a lot of neighborhood input.

Yes. Thank you, Rene.

I'm alerting the city attorney that I intend to go, so there will be at least one more commission. So if you could notice it, please notice it, because I do think it's important for as many people as possible to hear what the community wants to do.

Really, it's a...

Anyway, are we finished?

Yes.

We are finished. We are adjourning.