City Council - Regular Meeting

Call to order. I call to order the City Council meeting of June 4, 2026. Roll call.

Mayor DePue.

Present.

Councilwoman Gillis. Here. Councilman Thomas is excused. Councilwoman Dalbo. Here. Councilman Rainbird.

Here.

City Manager Mahoney.

Here.

City Attorney Sabatini. Here. Interim City Clerk Toopin present.

Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance. Please remain standing for a moment of silence. Okay. Item two, approval of changes, modifications to the agenda. I would like to propose, and unfortunately I know that's why everyone is here, but I was just told that Councilman Mike Thomas Is ill and I think that we have a lot of important things on the agenda to talk about where we should have a full Council So I'd like to get consensus to table item Item 9 B C along with D and then item Item 11 D charter amendment discussion and selection So we have a full council to discuss those items Charter discussion 11 D along with Item 9 B C and D I do because we've never talked about it as a whole as a council, so that's just my opinion. Everything else we kind of already talked about has been brought up in the past. I think it would be smart to have the council's full discussion on those items because we've never talked about those things as a whole on the same board and if Councilman Thomas has any concerns or anything to that degree. Just my thought.

So do we need a motion or do we need consensus?

Consensus is just fine for a table like this one.

So do we have consensus? Now, I think mine's working. Do we have consensus to table those items?

I guess I understand why you want to table nine, B, C, and D, because it's never been a purchase. So I don't understand that.

I agree.

OK. And along with item, just for the record, 9BC and E, along with tabling 11D. Is there a consensus on that? And for the record, you'll still be able to give your public opinion, citizens' comments, because I know a lot of you are here for that item. Is there a consensus for that? Yes. OK. Yep. Moving on, item four, presentation.

Item three, approval of the minutes.

None at this time. Item four, presentation of proclamation of applied certificates and or donations. Seeing none at this time. Item five, city manager report.

Check one, two. The one you don't want to work is working.

Fair.

ALL RIGHT.

GOOD EVENING, MAYOR AND ALL RIGHT. GOOD EVENING, MAYOR AND COUNCIL. COUNCIL. I HAVE A COUPLE ITEMS TO DISCUSS. I HAVE A COUPLE ITEMS TO DISCUSS. WITH YOUR CONSENSUS, I OFFERED A WITH YOUR CONSENSUS, I OFFERED A LETTER TO THE LISTING AGENT OF LETTER TO THE LISTING AGENT OF 4401 SOUTH RICHWOOD AVENUE, 4401 SOUTH RICHWOOD AVENUE, WHICH IS THE PROPERTY JUST SOUTH WHICH IS THE PROPERTY JUST SOUTH OF THE TARAMAR VILLAGE IN BETWEEN OF THE TARAMAR VILLAGE IN BETWEEN WILLIAMS STREET. WILLIAMS STREET. IN A PARTNERSHIP WITH VUCA FOREVER intent to offer and to purchase that property. Hopefully the landowner via their listing agent will accept our intent to pursue that property. Other than that, I'd just like to recognize our team member of the month. I had to get my glasses for that, sorry. Our team member of the month is Aaron Yarbrough. It is my distinct pleasure to recognize Aaron Yarbrough, City Electrician with Public Works and Utilities, Wastewater Collection Division, for team member of the month for his outstanding service, leadership, and commitment to the City of Edgewater. Although Aaron's primary responsibility is maintaining and repairing electrical systems at Wastewater Lift Station, he consistently goes above and beyond in support of other departments. He regularly responds after hours, not only for critical lift station issues, but also to assist other departments across the city when needed. Most recently, when the police department in the city hall experienced an electrical outage that impacted critical systems, including servers, Aaron responded immediately. He arrived quickly and worked diligently to diagnose and resolve the issue, helping restore operations in a timely manner. Aaron has also supported Parks and Recreation with electrical issues and has assisted in troubleshooting problems with park camera systems. His willingness to step in whenever needed reflects a strong commitment to teamwork and the overall success of city operations. In addition to his technical responsibilities, Aaron consistently demonstrates leadership within the wastewater collection division. During long-term absence of the superintendent, he had stepped up to assist in the role of acting wastewater collection superintendent, helping guide operations. Aaron's reliability, responsiveness, and leadership make him a valuable asset to the city. He leads by example and consistently demonstrates a high level of professionalism, making him highly deserving of recognition as the team member of the month. Aaron, if you could come forward. And I have nothing further.

Thank you, sir. And thank you for everything you do for our wonderful community. six citizens comments this is the time for the public to come forward with any comments they may have citizens comments related to any agenda matter may be made at the time the matters before the council please state your name and address and please limit your comments to three minutes or less i do want to remind everybody that we will be holding a special meeting for for the charter amendment discussion but you can still give your opinion citizens comments

We got to figure this out.

Okay, can you hear me now? I'd like to clarify, I couldn't, your mic was blank.

Just state your name and address for the record, please.

Kim Long, but I couldn't hear what you took off the agenda under item 11. Was it D as in dog, a request for Willy Wonka Day? I couldn't hear what you were saying.

It was item 11D, the chartered amendment discussion and selection that will be held with a full council during a special meeting.

Okay, so C as in cat. I'm sorry, we couldn't understand that. No problem. Okay, my name's Kim Wong, and I may go over by about 20 seconds if that would be all right. I'm not sure. I'll talk really fast.

Okay.

here tonight to remind the council some issues our town needs to address number one is flooding yes the city is working hard to do long overdue maintenance but the truth is that you can't beat mother nature building four foot or more higher than your neighbor is just bad policy let's face the fact that fill and build days must end it has made florida's shores a swimming pool and homes behind oakley preserve have flooded to name just a few number two edgewater is broke despite your belt tight tightening you don't have any money deering park is bringing 1747 new homes and that's just their start hopefully impact fees and more tax will help to fund infrastructure projects land was purchased out by i-95 for a new city hall well deserved i may say but there's no money Let's fix what's broke first. Our stormwater master plan says that if we continue down this same path, we will have to remove 200 homes from the shores and build a lake to hold all the water. Number three, do we want a city center out by 95 or private out of town money developing this property right here, our only riverfront property that this council less than five months ago promised to return to the citizens developers are knocking at the door to get a piece of this property and maybe even wooing this very council or maybe it's the other way around if a developer or this city wants a public private partnership to build a downtown area here on park avenue sell the lots behind this building Let's make whatever plans or offers public knowledge, informing all of us. Please find a way to communicate. We have paid for two glossy vision books that show shade trees and benches right here. Right here on this street. Most of the people in this room would love that. I have even offered to help with that. But it seems some want a big downtown to suddenly appear, maybe using this very space, by leasing out what we own. We're so tired of finding out a project is already approved, and then it's too late for the people to speak up. There's no hurry. If there's an offer on the table now, there will be an even bigger offer on the table a year from now. This is our last piece of riverfront. Developers know that, and I suspect that was the reason the deed was changed all those years ago. The people of Edgewater want to keep this a space for the community, not a commercial money-making business. our own vision statement reads edgewater will be environmentally friendly community with a small town atmosphere please pass the charter amendments on to we the people to vote on and return the deed to the people as you promised thank you thank you miss long for your comments there will be zero public participation during this council meeting unless it's during citizens commons so we'll lose these

Good evening, council members. My name is Michelle Delaney, and I am the Volusia Building Industry Association's president. I had to write down my thoughts, so bear with me. We call it VBIA for short, just so you know. It supports safe construction, flood resiliency, and responsible growth. However, we have concerns about the proposed charter members regarding mandatory stem wall foundations and annexation density restrictions. While these proposals may be well-intended, they could have unintended consequences. Requiring stem wall foundations for all new construction, regardless of actual flood conditions, may increase construction costs and make housing less affordable for future homeowners. I'm also concerned that permanently limiting density on annex property to previous county zoning could reduce flexibility for future councils and residents to address changing housing needs and growth patterns. Housing affordability, as we all know, is already a challenge throughout our region. Decisions we make today will preserve options for future generations rather than permanently restrict them. I respectfully ask the council to vote against these charter amendments and continue these discussions through the normal planning and ordinance process, where policies can be reviewed and adjusted as conditions change. Thank you.

CHRIS JERRAM, Thank you for your comment. CHRIS JERRAM, Ken Cartasano, 3312 Mango Tree Drive. I'm going to try and make this short. I spent like 14 hours trying to condense a complicated dissertation into a three minute discussion. I can't really do it. And I don't think I could change anybody's mind in three minutes anyway. I mean, I can't even get my wife to listen to me. So I doubt that the council is going to. But I'm going to tell you something. I was up here 15, 20 years ago. One of the reasons why I'm speaking today is because I'm not against growth. I'm against stupid growth. If the town doesn't grow, it's going to shrink. We've got to grow. I'm not against it, but it's got to be done intelligently. When I go to somebody and I ask them, I want to purchase something, I don't tell them the sky's the limit. I'll spend any amount of money I want, but I tell them I want quality. I want it good. And that's what we're all talking about. That's what everybody's concerned about is our quality of life, everybody's. And when I look at you guys up there on the desk, I think it's very important to make the point that none of you are responsible for some of the things that have happened here in this town in the last few years. I think that the flooding has been essentially handled, it's being managed. The mayor's doing a good job, he's accessible, he responds. And when I look at all of you, I'm seeing a bunch of people that have integrity and maybe even a splash of altruism. But I gotta tell you, I was up here before a different city council in this building that wanted to, mandate six square foot signs for every business in the city. So I came in with a visual aid and I held up a board that was three foot by two foot. And every member of the council was astounded that they were about to consider proposing something so stupid. Now, what you guys have to do is change your own minds. I feel like the people that are really running this operation are sitting over there. And we voted for you, and you hired him. OK?

Thank you, sir, for your comments.

evening, mayor and council members. My name is Marilyn Bennett. And I reside at 194 Jones Fish Camp Road. About a month ago, I delivered a packet to the office that's over there, which puts their mail into your bins. And it's a packet I had two and it's regarding a problem that's been ongoing. The packet included photographs, documentation, and supporting information that was explaining what my problem was. Mine's in the riverfront estates. I'm the, I've been talking about a drainage problem. And I'm not going into detail on that. I just wanted to find out if he received the packet because it was over a month ago that it was delivered.

Thank you, ma'am, for your comment. I did receive the packet and talked to the city manager about it. This is really a time for you to speak about your issues to the council if you would like to talk to us one-on-one the very best way is all of our phone numbers is on the city website. We did receive your packet. I did speak to the city manager about it. But if you'd like to contact us specifically and get your specific questions answered, the best way would be to just contact us individually.

OK. What I would really like is for somebody to personally contact me to let me know that they got the package. And I appreciate that you all did to get some feedback. I had a lot of other things to say, but that kind of ends it. It's a serious problem. It was caused by the development. I put a lot of effort in the information I gave you, and I certainly invite you as a group to come and visually see what the problem is, because the photos probably don't do it justice. When do you think that I will hear from someone?

If you just want to give us, I received your packet, but if you want to follow up in a text message or email, I'll certainly make a visit myself and I think you could do so with other council members as well. The best way to reach us is emails or our phone numbers on the city website. Thank you. And by the way, that's all of our personal cells and it's not to an office. Thank you.

I've been down there before. I'll come and reach out to you.

Good evening, Mayor DePue and members of the Edgewater City Council. Thank you for this opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Kelly Dotson, Executive Director of Volusia County Association for Responsible Development, also known as VCARD. VCARD represents a diverse membership of locally invested land use attorneys, engineers, environmental professional planners, developers, and other industry experts who work in these matters daily. We have observed that several of the proposed amendments appear in the charter review appear to extend beyond the traditional purpose and scope of the charter amendment. The role of the charter review commission is to evaluate and recommend revisions that provide the framework for self-governance with the parameters of florida law if necessary some of these provisions may be appropriately addressed through amendments in the edgewater's land development code so here are some examples that we feel will be best suited in the land development code rather than the charter Native landscaping, the LDC already provides a flexible framework to address requirements relating to ground cover planting trees and other landscaping standards. Site specific considerations may require adjustments that are difficult to accommodate through a blanket charter provision. STEMWILL REQUIREMENTS. A BLANKET REQUIREMENT OF STEMWILL CONSTRUCTION REGARDLESS OF A SITE'S SPECIFIC CONDITIONS OR EXISTING RESIDENTIAL CIRCUMSTANCES COULD CREATE A BOND UNINTENDED IMPACTS WITHOUT FULLY ADDRESSING THE UNDERLINING STORMWATER MASTER PLAN CHALLENGES WITHIN THE CITY. So the Stemwool Foundation without raising the land, section Q6 item one. We ask you to consider fire code access, septic tank installation and other conditioners requiring the fill placement. We recommend reviewing the recent Volusia County Land Development Code amendments addressing fill limitations and considering whether similar standards would be more effectively implemented through the LDC rather than the charter. This will allow for site-specific review and evaluation by your city engineer. Water conserving fixtures. We recommend further clarification or definition of conserving fixtures. It may be beneficial to reference maybe low-flow toilets or another identifiable standard. Annexation shall not be assigned or approved for land use density. As drafted, it is unclear whether the provision could be legally implemented, particularly if the intent is to apply indefinitely. Zoning and land regulations are planning tools designed to evolve over time in response to changing community conditions and needs. q9 sale of city park uh property and sale of city hall sorry i thought i was going to have more time we just want additional basically consideration um a lot of these amendments are are more thank you ma'am for your comments we appreciate it

Good evening, Janet Shira, 148 William Street, Edgewater. I'm here tonight to talk about something I witnessed at the InsurTech property. I walk US 1 almost daily, about four to five miles, And right now, there are five or six active osprey nests right along US 1 there. By active, I mean they are occupied by young birds and their parents. I was walking one day and I noticed that INSERTEC was clearing trees and they left a tree that had an active nest in it. I have pictures of that tree with the osprey right above the nest who was screeching, not knowing what the heck was going on, but they left the tree. And then about four or five days later, the tree was gone. I filed with the US Fish and Wildlife Commission and the State Fish and Wildlife Commission complaints about this and I provided them the photographs I had. But I think it's important for the city to also be aware of this. It was a big nest. And again, there's nests all up and down US 1. And I know a lot of that area is slated for development. If you hold your pre-construction meetings, kind of out at the site, look around, if there's a nest there, and you know. I mean, if the staff isn't aware of when ospreys are breeding and when there are babies in the nest, there's a Southeast Volusia Audubon Society that you can ask to come out and help you identify that. This was something that should never have happened. It should definitely never happen again. And I hope that the city will put measures in place that the city will recognize these nests and tell those construction people that you will work around that nest at least until the end of June, end of July, whenever those birds fledge the nest. Osprey do come back to the same nest every year, and it would be wonderful to save all those trees. Knowing that can't happen, at least we should mandate that those trees not be taken down while there are birds in that nest. and it's illegal what they did is illegal to harm osprey so they did file those complaints thank you and i hope the city will do something about it thank you ma'am for caring and your concerns and the city manager along with several city council members are aware good evening mayor and members of the city council my name is candace gress and i live at 1101 regent street

I'm standing here tonight to urge the council to take a firm and preemptive stand against the development of data centers, not just here in Edgewater, but across Volusia County and the state of Florida. We are often told that data centers are the future, but when you look at the raw data, they are a bad deal for our community. They demand everything from us and give virtually nothing back. Let's look at the numbers. First and foremost, Florida is facing a quiet but catastrophic water crisis. Over 90% of our state's population relies on the groundwater from the Florida aquifer for drinking water. This aquifer is a porous, delicate limestone sponge, and it's already under immense strain from over pumping, salt water intrusion, and historic droughts. Data centers are fundamentally industrial water vacuums. A typical mid-sized data center sucks up between 300,000 and 500,000 gallons of fresh water every single day just to keep its servers cool. Hyperscale facilities can guzzle up to five million gallons a day. That's the equivalent of a small town of 10,000 to 50,000 people moving into our backyard overnight, drinking from the same straw and evaporating our precious water into thin air. When the aquifer drops too low, the land drops with it, causing dry residential wells and catastrophic sinkholes. We cannot afford to trade our drinking water to cool AI chips. Second, they will drive up our energy bills. These facilities consume massive amounts of electricity, putting an incredible strain on the local power grid. Across the country in heavy data center corridors, regional generation costs have spiked by up to 25%. While there are legislative efforts to stop utility companies from passing these costs onto the residents, history shows that when the grid is forced to expand rapidly, everyday homeowners are the ones who ultimately foot the bill through higher rates and increased risk of blackouts. Finally, let's talk about the economic myth of job creation. Yes, during the initial construction phase, there will be jobs. But the moment the building is finished, those jobs vanish. A massive million dollar data center requires only about 30 to 50 permanent staff to operate, mostly security guards and a few network technicians. This is not a sustainable addition to Edgewater. It is a drain on our infrastructure, a threat to our environment, and a financial burden to our residents. I ask this council to protect our water, protect our wallets, and say a definitive no to data centers in Edgewood.

Thank you. Thank you, ma'am, for your comments. I appreciate it. I want to remind everybody, please no public participation along with the fact that our charter amendment discussion was tabled.

Good evening, Council. Chuck Martin, 205 Cherrywood Lane, Edgewater. Running for City Council District 1 here in Edgewater this year. Some of my goals are, you might have heard before, is to stop the flooding. Check out my videos under Edgewater Chuck. It shows a lot of that. We need clean, affordable drinking water. We need to lower the speed limit, especially in front of edgewater landings. There's been fatalities there. Talk to the residents. I'd like to bring my 44 years of experience in public works, solid waste, utilities, infrastructure, and flood control systems. Professional experience. building and road construction, water and sewer construction, power plant construction, maintenance operations, landfill and recycling centers, construction operations, public works operations, hazmat firefighter, flood control systems, rocket facility construction, rocket launch facilities, maintenance and operations, building large solar farms and constructions, community involvement, volunteer service, I'm a supporter of the Edgewater Animal Shelter. I was a City of Edgewater youth baseball coach, assistant coach, Pop Warner football, Habitat for Humanity, former Boy Scout and assistant leader, Royal Rangers leader. I supported the Newsome Beach High School Drama Club, done a lot of volunteer work for hospice as well. and I believe the government's responsibility is simple to protect the people, maintain infrastructure, defend our rights, and spend taxpayers' money responsible. My focus is addressing flood concerns, ensuring clean, affordable drinking water, improving safety along US 1 between Roberts Road and Pelican Cove, standing firm on constitutional freedoms. and bringing accountability and fiscal responsibility to local government. I'm a blue collar worker. I'm not a politician. And I'll never consider myself one. And I can promise you one thing. I'll do my best. I'm already doing it. I've been out there busting my butt for years. I just don't put it all over Facebook. And I won't be making any deals behind closed doors, having private meetings with developers. If I'm gonna have a meeting, that man right there's gonna be with me. And when I'm elected, everybody that's on council, your phone number will be blocked. We're not gonna have no sunshine violations. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Martin, for your comments.

Jim McGinnis, 2607 Willow Boat Drive, Edgewater. I've been doing a lot of research on the charter amendments, and particularly the ones that deal with the sale of the city property. The town officially incorporated Hawks Park in 1915. In 1924, the Florida legislator changed the name to Edgewater, reflecting its location along the water's edge of the Indian River Mosquito Lagoon. The original settlement was accessible mainly by water because no highways had existed. The area is the most biological diverse estuaries in North America. Dr. Harkes donated land for public buildings and the cemetery prior to his death in 1910. The property was originally donated to the town under a deed restriction that required land to remain public use for Edgewater residents. This deed prohibited the property from being sold, bartered, or exchanged, requiring it to remain available to the public indefinitely. A major controversy emerged in 2015 when the then city council and mayor pursued legal action that removed the original deed restrictions. What happened in July of 2015, it was reported by then city attorney Aaron Wolf, testified that the city had directed him to file a lawsuit to void the deed. However, after countless hours of research, I have found absolutely no public records anywhere of the sitting counsel at that time requesting Aaron Wolf to do any legal action. If there was, it must have been a private meeting other than city public. The current... The sitting council at that time was Mayor Mike Ignasiak, District One, Christine Powers, District Two, Gigi Bennington, District Three, Dan Blasey, and District Four, Gene Emter, with City Manager Tracy Barlow. Which brings me back to how in the world was the city asked the attorney to file a lawsuit when nothing was public? So I refer to amendments Q9, Q10 as should not be allowed for consideration, should not be on the agenda, and as there are many legal questions that need to be addressed on the October ruling that changed the original deed. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mr. McGinnis, for your comment.

Good evening. My name is Michelle Jaxa and I am a volunteer at the VBIA Volusia Builders Association and I'm speaking on behalf of the STEM Wall Charter. I'm here tonight because I am concerned about the rising cost of housing in our community. I support safe building practices, responsible growth, and protecting residents. However, I also believe we need to carefully consider the cost of every new requirement we place on future homeowners. For many families, the dream of homeownership is already becoming more difficult to achieve. Additional construction mandates and development restrictions may seem small individually, but those costs eventually become part of the price of a home. I hope the council will carefully consider the long-term affordability impacts of these proposed amendments and how they may affect future residents, young families, and working people who want to call Edgewater their home. Thank you for your time.

Thank you ma'am for your comments are appreciated.

Robert to go to 32 North Ridge road Avenue speaking on behalf of for some in place. H away. The secretary treasurer for talk about the canal behind there. Y'all have done some work on Park Street one behind their new dredging I know the city has bought some property and they're going put a retention pond back there. I'd like to hear some kind of update of what's going on as that's going to be done before the hurricane season. Y'all put one by down off a park or the dirt road behind some other complexes, stuff like that, another retention pond. The canal behind our place is nothing but green slime. Y'all, I've cut off all water. There's no flow. It's a mosquito nest. and stuff for similar place we are 48 homeowners and stuff and by we are one of the best kept secrets of edgewater our places started off at thirty three thousand dollars when they were built 81 to 85 they're over two hundred thousand dollars now the thing about it is i've had a city state and county out there with a meeting with me we don't have a retention pond everybody that that Builds now has to have retention pond on their water. I know where our water goes. This is a city guy, guy. And the state person says, I know where your water goes. It goes in that goddamn canal. There's no place to go because it's on a slope. We tried to get with the city. We tried to get into their sewer department. The reclaimed department was too full. I said, well, it's going to be a lot more fuller. You guys are expanding it. But you keep on building these subdivisions. It's going to always be overfilled and stuff. So our water goes into that canal back there. There's nowhere else to go. Water doesn't run uphill. But like I said, we had a guy come out there and sweep some of the grime out from there. Usually we have a guy with a dump truck come behind him and stuff like that he scoops in there but he and when i talk to him he's putting on the property behind there and making a buffer it's it's be a piece of landscape property woods that's been there for since wherever and stuff and he goes well we can't let water run off on private property well the damn water has run off on private property for 70 freaking years But he didn't have anybody from the city that could drive the dump truck that day. So we have a buffer on the other side of our creek. So when the hurricane comes this year, it's going to come up to my back end, back door. And that I don't want to appreciate. I would love for you guys to come out there and get that damn buffer off that you all created. I don't think it's right. And so we've been here 40, 50 years paying taxes. And I don't want my place flooded because we can't put our sewer into Edgewater's department. We've been paying taxes.

We pay a stormwater fee.

Every month, but we don't have any pipes.

Thank you, Mr. DeVoe. If you stay until the end of the meeting, please give me your cell phone number again. I knew I had it years ago, but I don't have it now. I went to look for it the other day. Or give it to me or the city manager, and we'll get a proper meeting with the proper people out there to answer your questions. I appreciate it. Thank you, sir.

That's for Simmons.

For Simmons. Mr. DeVoe, Robert DeVoe.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members, for the record. My name is Allison Root. I am with the Volusia Building Industry Association. I am their executive officer. The BBIA represents builders, contractors, suppliers, and professionals throughout Volusia County, many of whom build, invest, and live here in Edgewater. Tonight, I want to be very clear that our concerns are not about opposing safe construction practices or responsible growth. Public safety matters, flood protection matters, thoughtful planning matters. Our concern is with the structure, scope, and long-term implications of these proposed charter amendments. The proposed STEM wall amendment would require STEM wall foundations for all new residential construction within the city limits regardless of actual flood zone designation, elevation, engineering conditions, or site-specific need. Not every property in Edgewater faces the same conditions and a one-size-fits-all mandate removes flexibility from engineers, builders, and property owners who are trained to evaluate those conditions individually. We are also concerned about the proposed annexation amendment, which would permanently restrict annex properties from receiving density or intensity greater than what existed under county zoning prior to annexation. This type of restriction may significantly limit future planning flexibility, housing opportunities, and the ability of future councils and residents to respond to changing community needs over time. equally important both of these proposals have highly technical development regulations into the city charter itself edgewater has already established process for addressing development issues through its land development code planning and zoning board public hearings council meetings like we have here tonight Those processes exist so regulations can be evaluated, modified, and updated as conditions change. Whether someone supports or opposes STEM walls or annexation restrictions, those policy discussions should occur through the city's established planning and land development processes rather than being permanently embedded in the charter. Both of these proposals also raise concerns regarding long-term housing affordability. Additional construction mandates and development restrictions directly impact the cost of housing and reduces future housing opportunities. Those impacts are ultimately felt by working families, future homeowners, the next generation trying to live and work. Also, the council should be careful to evaluate the potential legal implications of these proposals, including SB 180 and the broader questions regarding how development regulations are adopted in this under Florida. We encourage the council to slow down, fully evaluate long-term impacts.

Thank you, ma'am, for your comments. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening, Council. Brian White, New Summer Beach resident, also a candidate for Volusia County Council District 3. First of all, good evening. I know you've tabled your discussion about the charter amendments. We're going to have a similar discussion tomorrow at county council, but since I got you all here, I'd like to say my piece. And first of all, I want to commend the citizens of Edgewater and the city council for having the courage to place these charter amendments before voters. I've listened to the opposition from builder associations and development interest, and I remain supportive of these measures. Frankly, that's how I think you know you're on to something good. Sorry. I reject the idea that every new sprawling subdivision should automatically be considered affordable housing. If decades of rapid growth and sprawl created affordability, Florida would be one of the most affordable states in the country. Instead, families are facing rising housing costs, rising insurance costs, and rising utility costs. Too often, new development shifts cost onto existing residents through increased demands on roads, on drainage, public safety, and on infrastructure. We've seen that all over Central Florida. Housing is not affordable if homeowners are left with higher flood risk, higher insurance premiums, and taxpayers are left paying for the consequences of poorly planned growth and sprawl. Edgewater faces significant flooding challenges, and that's why I support measures like stem wall construction and native landscaping. Building smarter and more resilient communities is not anti-growth. It's responsible stewardship. I also support requiring voter approval before disposing of public lands, and we'll have a similar conversation at county council tomorrow. And that's because public lands belong to the public. And once they're sold, they're gone forever. Most importantly, these amendments give residents a stronger voice in shaping the future of their community. Across Volusia County, many people feel that growth has happened to them rather than with them. Edgewater is showing the courage to have a different conversation. For that reason, I encourage residents to support these amendments and continue putting the long-term interests of the community ahead of short-term development pressure. Thank you.

Thank you, sir, for your comments. We appreciate it. Please no public participation.

All right, my name is Shirley Chambers. I've been here since 1994. I live over on West Pine Bluff Street. My problem is regarding our flooding, which is still floods on the end of our road, building new growth. I know this is like an older issue. For Mayor DePue, council, board members, I've had a lot of difficulties on my street. I've had to remove my brother and send him into a nursing home. Because of the fact, with all the building that you have and the way that they built the medium strip, which I've complained once before, we have had so much crashes and people that has literally gotten killed. Whoever did this, the company and the engineering, they did a poor job. The medium strip is poorly designed. If you look underneath Rush and Hannah marketing, the attorney at law, Okay, on September 21st, 22. This has become multiple accidents. It has been truly a hazard for all of us living in the city of Edgewater. There are no safe crossings for the people who are handicapped or for the walkers because I do try to walk myself. We've been taking this into effect. Nothing has been done, but it's a catalyst. No sign for Park Avenue. That's when you come down. U.S. 1, you're going, and the light, you're going to turn around to come back onto West Park. You're going to get hit because there's no sign on Park Avenue that tells you that they can also turn at the light, okay? Our area of West Park, because of the boating and because of the school, it's a hazardous trap. I have called the police officers, and I've left messages with you with no response, Mr. Mayor DePue.

I haven't got any messages.

Well, I've left them, okay?

Not to my cell phone. Okay.

Yeah, well, I've left them through the city with you. Oh, I don't have an office here, so my cell phone's on the way. I've done cats. I've lived here a long time. I've got two cats that's dead within a month. People are flying by. I've had the officers come by. They're now checking out, but they're not there at the right times. When the school comes through and the people that go to the boat to go to work in the morning, they run fast, okay? I've been doing rescue trapping, hooting, For years, I've had a lot of cats. People bring them to me to take them to get fixed and everything else to help the population. I think I was doing a good job. All the food and everything I bought. I also feed squirrels because I feel sorry for them. They get hit all the time. Something needs to be done on my street. Okay? We have kids. I mean, I walk out to the mailbox. I almost got hit the other day. So, like I told the officer today, I walked out there and went, there's no sense in this. We need a barrier. We need something that goes on. I've got pictures here of the cats that are dead laying in the road if you'd like to look at them. The road that's on Hart Avenue, it's 2025. Why should ours be the main stragg that everybody keeps coming through to go around because of the stupid medium strip? Okay? We need a rumble stick to be there, or we need something, a slower speed zone. Something needs to be done in that area, and I wish that you would please look at that road very cautiously and very carefully because of Park Avenue And then when they turn, they fly down, and they're up and down all day long. Please, I don't want the cats getting killed. I've got pictures. Thank you. Whatever you need.

Thank you, ma'am, for your comments. If you could, please contact me or the city manager tomorrow. But just for the record, this is the first time I'm here, and I haven't got any of your messages. My cell phone's on the website. I return everyone's calls and emails. I'll resend it to you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Where is this?

I believe she said she lives on West Pine Bluff.

Hi, I'm Mandy Bullard, 1417 Needle Palm. Hold on, let me turn my brightness up. I'm hearing the suits, heels, and logoed collared shirts questioning the long-term impacts of the amendments we have proposed. But unfortunately, we're already experiencing the long-term impacts of our current regulations. For the last seven months, I sat on the Charter Review Board with four other Edgewater residents. brainstorming and researching ways we could use our city charter to mitigate flooding, conserve water, and protect existing residents from negative impacts of new development. The first of those amendments is five, native and Florida-friendly landscaping requirements. There are over 440 plants on the Florida-friendly plant list compiled by the University of Florida. Considered by horticultural specialists to be well adapted to grow in Florida landscape that will require very little supplemental irrigation or nutrients once they are established. The high water absorption rate mitigates the risk of flooding and eliminates standing water. This council has adamantly spoken for smart growth and responsible development. Setting this community standard is how we allow growth while being responsible. This proposed amendment is only for new builds, and every homeowner has the right to change their landscaping as they wish. But we need to set a standard of care for builders in our community that when they clear cut our green spaces, they replace it with landscaping conducive to our environment. Those homeowners will enjoy the low maintenance and the use of Florida-friendly plants served to conserve water and largely eliminates the need for fertilizer and pesticide, reducing the risk these chemicals pose to an already precarious aquifer. Protection of our water supply should be a top priority. The next is Amendment 6, a stem wall foundation requirement for new builds in residential zone areas. Stem walls allow the porous land under homes to remain porous to absorb rainwater rather than passing that water to your neighbor and greatly reduces flooding. Many cities in Florida have already adopted these regulations. This amendment is yet again for new builds. We are already using our Transform 386 grant funding to put homes on stem walls. It would be nice if you would treat our money as carefully as you treat counties. Stem walls, footings, and elevation slabs are widely accepted as the best possible foundation for our sandy soil as sand shifts under concrete during rainfall and results in cracks compromising the integrity of concrete slabs. Amendment 7 requires water-conserving fixtures in new builds. This is really a no-brainer. I pulled permits for new builds in Edgewater for the last five years. There are over 1,000 new homes being built, and over 90% of those permits are for D.R. Horton and Lennar homes, new neighborhoods all being built by the same people at the same time in the same place. This council unanimously voted to ban some water purification methods due to the rising concerns of the freshwater crisis. This is a simple, low impact, highly effective way to conserve water and set a standard of water conservation for any builders coming into our community. Again, homeowners are free to make changes to the property as they see fit, but we must set better standards for building. Amendment eight sets limitations on density for annex property, which prevents entities or individuals from annexing into our city to disregard county zoning regulations, encouraging sprawl, which increases per capita maintenance costs, strains, resources and infrastructure, undermining our long our city's long term viability and prosperity. In addition to the strain on our emergency services, such as police and fire rescue, creating risk to our.

Thank you. Thank you, ma'am, for your comments. We really appreciate it. Thank you. Item seven, council reports. Councilman Rainbird.

Good evening, Edgewater. That's pretty disturbing about the osprey nest when we were informed about it. I remember up by Papa's Drive, and there was an eagle's nest across where it's now at Dollar General, and that eagle's nest somehow disappeared. Nobody knows what happened. Photographers used to come with their pickup trucks and tripods, big lenses, whenever those chicks were born. That tree's gone. The only good news in this is that there's a lot of osprey here, thank God. They're all up and down US 1, but we've got to be stewards of these animals. They're beautiful. They're there for a purpose. Not too long ago, I had the privilege of going on a tour with most of the city council here and some of staff to observe how some of the other cities built, devised, and maintained their downtown, for lack of a better word. We went to Mount Dora, Claremont, and Winter Park. And some of them had some pretty good ideas. We do have to think about what we want to do with this area, folks. Do we want a downtown here? Do we not want a downtown here? Do we want to keep this building the way it is? We have quite a bit of land here. If we wanted to, we could probably get all the way up to Bob Otto. But we need to know, what do we want to do here? We did spend a lot of money about a decade ago. Some company came in with some nice pastel pictures of a small down home feel. I think down home feels left this town, folks. Not for nothing, but. We have to figure out what we want to do, and that involves your opinion. Do we want, in my opinion, Canal Street's beautiful. You got the corkscrew and all these beautiful places, and then you got that old, what used to be the tag office, looks like trash. It's there, no offense to the realtor that moved into there, but come on, it's like a 1950s building. We just gotta come up with a consensus as citizens. What do we wanna do here? We need to know what you wanna do with this place before we move forward with any other plans. That's where we went to go get some ideas, some beautiful Winter Park, cobblestone streets, we can't go there. I participated in a beautiful ceremony. There's a traveling Vietnam wall again here. It was at AMVETS this time. Earlier this year, was it 285, post-285? It was pretty cool to see that caisson being pulled by the horses down US 1. And the people waited patiently. They saw that Kennedy replica caisson with that casket on it. Everybody waited nice and polite. They were there 15 minutes. Everybody went on their way. That was a great thing. Then there was a Memorial Day ceremony. The city had their own little ceremony right before the laser show at Hawks Park. The laser show was awesome. The place was packed. I estimate there were between 250, 300 people there. Kids with their little spinning around lights. The city... Parks and Rec had the place set up, broken down. That's what they do. Jason and the guys, beautiful job. Memorial Day was a great event at AMVETS, sad day. And they also honored our fallen first responders. Then I was at Whistlestop Park for a birthday party for my granddaughter. And being there for several hours, I did notice that It's an established park, and it's been there for a while. And there's some improvements that I think could be made. There's the splash park there with the water fountains and stuff. And there's some park benches around the perimeter. Blazing sun. They're metal. The swings, they're in blazing sun. A lot of the people that were there, their kids were having a ball. I mean, there was a lot of kids there. It's a great park. but the parents were all on blankets underneath that tarp and the park benches were empty and uh i addressed this with the city manager and he kind of talked with our parks and rec director and um we're looking at some ideas to maybe get some shade shade's not cheap but um I figure we could figure to do what we can do to get the things cooled off. Some of the swings, they're kind of hot for the kids to get on. And there's a little grass area there that's not being used. Maybe we could do something with that. But we're looking into that to see what we can do. And then I haven't been resting on this piece of land down down the river that was going to be a development and it may be a trailer park i've been in contact with quite a few people that uh keep your fingers crossed guys we have a letter of intent i'm not expecting i i expect nothing so that i don't get disappointed anything i get is a plus but we could possibly be in the running of acquiring that riverside piece of land down there um it's a long shot there's a lot of things we didn't know if we would have known sooner we would have been in a better position we i was led to believe that that property was already purchased and it was a done deal which is why i asked the lawyer when he first approached i said is this land for sale he said no we're in the process of buying it oh i wish we would have known some of that because we might have been in a better standing but keep your fingers crossed folks volusia forever if we can get this done volusia forever is hopefully going to be able to help us with this but uh that's all i got folks but hopefully we can be the proud owners of a piece of land on the river thank you sir councilman gillis all right i'll keep it short

i attended the ribbon cutting we had at veterans park i wanted to thank everybody in parks and rec for all the work that they did on getting that up and finished it's beautiful i also attended the fdot district 5 safety summit and i serve on the safety committee i'm going to throw that out there to you miss chambers i would love to sit down with you i've got some contacts there You've not reached out to me about that before, and I live a couple streets over from you. I've met with some of the other neighbors about the issues on that street, but nobody's come to me really about the speed before. So please get with me before you leave, or as Mayor DePue said, get us your information. And I'll throw at that as well, as far as the safety committee, I've also contacted FDOT multiple times about the speed down by Edgewater Landing. And that's that there's a lot of those require more safety studies and they are looking at getting funding for things of that in the future for different roads at least on the on US 1 and some of our other state roads but I believe I would have to get with PD as far as everything going on with Pine Bluff because that we should be able to do something on our own because that wouldn't be a state road I don't know as far as yeah so Then I attended the ceremony in Ambitz where the traveling Vietnam War and Global War on Terror memorials were displayed, as Eric had spoken about. It was beautiful. It's very emotional to see people who have never been able to travel to see the physical wall itself to be able to find their family members' names on there, and I've witnessed that a few times, and they had a beautiful ceremony there. I attended a non-profit event at a local nursing home where we were trying to bring some joy to the seniors. I attended the quarterly Volusia County Economic Development meeting. I attended several graduation ceremonies, and I had the honor to speak at Burns Science and Technology senior graduation. I attended and spoke at the Memorial Day ceremony when I had the honor of laying a wreath in memory of Edgewater's fallen heroes. Gary Snyder usually runs those events, and he was sick at the last minute, and I wanted to thank Bonnie Misca and Mayor DePue for bringing it together at the last minute. I mean, we probably had a good 20, 30 minutes notice to find out that things were kind of going to the side, and Mayor DePue and Bonnie Misca kind of stepped in at the last minute and fixed it and was able to get it going. So I wanted to say a thank you to that. I attended our laser light show. I'm just thanking everybody today, but Parks and Rec knocked it out of the park. It was a great event. attended multiple tpo meetings i'm happy to announce i was voted to be their secretary and second vice chair edgewater hosted our volusia league of cities event and as far i thought it was a beautiful event we had down at hacienda and i know that monique and lisa and everybody in the clerk's office all the ladies at pd nicolette especially i know came in did so much work down there and it was a beautiful event and i just wanted to say thank you to all of them and thank you to all the cities that came and joined us here in edgewater Last three things, Ace Veterinary Clinic had their grand opening. It's a beautiful facility. And then I wanted to say, I also believe I see you out there, Drew from Drew's Haircuts, that's another new small business we have there. And then Power Swings, where kids can go in and practice baseball, just opened in Edgewater as well. So those are three new businesses. Oh, and also the other one I wrote down, Besties is another place for very small children to go in and have another little play place where parents can go and take their kids.

And that is all I have right now.

Councilwoman Dalva.

Testing. I'll go like this. There we go. I attended the Volusia League of Cities, also the dinner hosted by the city of Edgewater. It was well attended. Monique and staff did a wonderful job putting it together. And two of the three businesses were local, Lobster's Catering and Patty's Cheesecakes. So thank you for including our local businesses. Most of the council and some staff took a tour, as Eric was saying, a three-city tour to speak to other city staff on their downtown, what works, what they would change. give our staff and council some ideas of what we can bring back for ideas for our future downtown which we were you know which eric again talked about so we've you know we've got to start somewhere and get a plan and stick to it like i've said before i also attended the um amvets post two traveling vietnam wall and war on terrorism paying respect to those who had given the ultimate sacrifice and also honored the gold star moms I also attended the ribbon cutting at the Veterans Park. That's all I have. I also spoke with residents and discussed questions and concerns. Thank you.

thank you i as well attended the veterans park room and cutting ceremony at our dock thank you to our park and recreation department apartment and our city manager for speeding that up and what's even more great to see is 18th street is the heart of our canal there's a lot of sand and dredging and i've been at events ever since the city manager took over and he's oh you're with fdlp we need a permit and so he fast tracked this did a great job being networking got right on it, so that is being dredged. I want to thank AMVETS post-285 as well for the travel in Vietnam. It's always a great ceremony. I also want to thank Councilman Eric Rainberg. He got the notice before I that Gary Snyder was sick, and so we would have had to postpone our Veteran Memorial Day ceremony. So very glad that we stepped right up and got that going with Bonnie Misca as well.

Thank you for being available. That was last minute.

I'm very happy that we held the Florida League of Cities event in our community. Thank you to Hacienda and everyone that made that happen. I was very happy to represent the city in our stormwater mitigation meeting. Volusia League of Cities, President Nancy Miller along with Jake Johansen, they have a sub-flood committee that we're discussing. Hopefully we're going to get some real results and see about potentially having regional projects. I'm happy to represent the community there. item eight consent agenda all matters listed under the consent agenda are considered to be routine by the city council will be acted upon by one motion there will be no separate discussion of those items unless discussion is desired by a member of the council in which case the mayor will remove that item for the consent agenda such items will be considered separately is there a motion to approve the consent agenda i make a motion to approve the consent agenda second rainbird roll call

Councilman Rainbird.

Yes.

Mayor DePue. Yes. Councilwoman Gillis. Yes. Councilwoman Dalbo. Yes.

Item 9, public hearing ordinances and resolutions. Item 9A, first reading, ordinance number 2026-0-06. Request to amend Article 2, Article 6, Article 27, and Article 20 of the City of Edgewater's Land Development Code to create a new sign logo. Staff report.

Thank you Council and Mr. Mayor. The ordinance before you, 2026 O-06, is request to amend Article 2 definitions, Article 6 sign code, Article 18 of the Indian River Boulevard corridor, and Article 20 Ridgewood corridor to simplify the sign code. As you recall, the City received A legal notice regarding that our sign code was unconstitutional versus under the town of Gilbert decision. City staff have worked on making the new sign code content neutral.

Some of the items that the council wanted, such as the mascots, have been codified in the new code to allow for

business owners to have those sign spinners and those things and with that city staff are recommending approval the new ordinance does pretty much match like for like the existing however just removes content thank you sir this is great we need to make our sign development because a little less regulated speaking of rest less regulation one of the major concerns I have and I spoke with Ryan and the city manager is poll signs all right our code does not allow a poll sign to be replaced a new monetary sign at the bottom you know the bottom of that pole to cut down that pole put a new sign there you're looking at least around fourteen thousand dollars for a minimum sign so i'd like to tweak the the code and regulation and potentially have a second orders come in front of us to discuss to see if we wanted to change our codes and regulations where you would be allowed to replace a pole sign if it is damaged but you just couldn't if there isn't one there you just couldn't be able to put a pole sign up So basically if a pole sign is there and it's damaged or a new business comes in, there's already existing sign there with no major issues, a business would be allowed to use that pole sign.

Could we have that added between so it goes into this ordinance between the first and second reading?

I can make that change between the first and second reading. So it would be a change to Article 20, which regulates the use of poll signs or not use of poll signs. So part of that would be allow for the change out of the copy area, which is right now prohibited because the intent was to get people to move towards monument signs. So staff can definitely facilitate that change. great news thank you is there a consensus why what why was this change made was it because of hurricane force winds they didn't want the pole signs and they went to the monuments no it the ridgewood design corridor is just that it's a design corridor and the community at the time believed that pole signs were undesirable looking and thought that monument signs would be more professional looking.

So it's not a safety thing? No.

OK.

I can think of at least five or six businesses that still have the existing pole there. There's no sign on it. And there is a business there. And King's Coffee, they simply wanted to change out the inside of a sign so that they could have their business logo on it. And they were not able to do so. It costs about $8,000 for a new sign to cut their pole sign down.

I think this is a great move for us as well.

The monument signs can cost up to 40 grand. So I mean, they're very expensive. And for a new business coming in, if there's already a pole sign in place and it's in good I'm very, very pleased to be able to change the privilege to have that as well.

I agree. I've gotten through several businesses I can think of off the top of my head that have reached out that have wanted to do things with the existing poll signs that couldn't. So I think it would also help clean up some of the parts of US 1 because allowing people to fix those signs when I know that they wanted to make the sign look better and they were told they couldn't because they weren't allowed to do anything to it. So the question was just let it rot or fix it and there was nothing they could do.

Yeah, unfortunately, one of the downsides to that code, the way that was written, is that, yes, it essentially enables them to rot, but there was no enforcement mechanism to take them down. And so that's what we've been left with. So I think this is a nice compromise to meeting still the intent of the Ridgewood design corridor.

Great news. And for the nagging Facebook groups, this doesn't mean that you'll still be granted a new poll sign.

And we're allowed to have work order. Pink cowgirls standing on the side spinning a sign.

City staff, you can wear as long as it's not obscene. Right. Yeah, I mean, you.

That girl was famous.

As long as you're holding the sign and you're not blocking the sidewalk.

Beautiful.

How about it?

So Mr. Attorney, how would that motion have to read?

Just pass the actual ordinance with the amendment as described in the debate.

And I think the clerk will have, obviously, a good description of what it is you're adding to it. So I'll pass the gavel and make a motion to approve item 9A, first reading ordinance number 2026-0-06, request to amend Article 2, Article 6, and Article 27 and Article 20 of the City of Edgewater's Land Development Code to create a new sign code that will also allow pole signs that are already in existing to be repaired or replaced.

Second, Rainberg.

Roll call.

Councilman Rainbird. Yes. Mayor Depew. Yes. Councilwoman Gillis. Yes. Councilwoman Dalgo. Yes.

Okay, item 9B and 9C has been tabled along with 9D. Item 9E, first reading, order number 2026-0-12, permitting the ownership and housing of chickens in residential areas.

From signs to chickens. Good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm Charles Geiger, the Chief of Police. I have a brief presentation for the ordinance that we're proposing tonight to allow residential backyard chickens. What this ordinance does is it amends Section 58, where it's currently prohibited, and it allows for a permitted ownership of chickens. It creates Section 5.9, which goes over the ordinance that will be in there today. Hens only, no roosters, and it balances the privilege to own the chickens and for the city's ability to make sure that there's a good public welfare. A little bit of public knowledge. About 94% of large metropolitans in the United States have some type of ability for residential chickens, and that goes anywhere the estimates are about six million to 11 million households in the United States. There's a lot of staff reports that are done with this, but a lot of the complaint volumes are low, and the surveyed cities say that they have no complaints or issues of any kind if it's done the right way. The problems are practical, not really philosophical. Recurring issues for coop maintenance. It's not necessarily the birds, it's more the people when they're not upkeeping them. Palm Coast is probably your most recent example. In 2025, they did a pilot program. It was originally gonna be 50 permitted residents, and they were gonna be allowed to have four hens. With overwhelming success, there was a couple issues that they were able to address with no problem at all. It actually went into effect in December. So for the city of Edgewater, our proposed ordinance here today would be five hens for properties half acre or less. If you're in the city of Edgewater and you have a half acre or more, that would go to seven, but no roosters of any kind allowed. That's your complaint drivers there for sure. There's a $25 fee, and we'll address that on the next slide, how that can be waived. Your simple numbers are 10 foot setback from any real property line, 20 foot setback from your neighbor's property line, and 150 square foot maximum size of your enclosure. Your permit is required. A permit is required no matter what to have the chickens and to make sure that your enclosure is correct. There's a $25 fee if you do not take the University of Florida online training with it and what that does is just make sure you're a good steward you understand the ordinance. If you go to that class, the class and training is free. The $25 is waived and you would go to our permitting process and explain that you have a hoop which meets our standards and the entire thing will be waived. If you don't want to go through that, it's a $25 admin fee. City staff will come out and inspect it and you'd be good from there. Really the concerns that surround this isn't necessarily the noise, it's the feces that comes with it. There are some concerns with pathogens through the CDC and salmonella, odor and pests for sure, and runoff. When we developed this ordinance, we really tried to create it to where we could address that, and that's why Section 5-9, I-7, the way that manure is stored has to be maintained, and it's really to address any of the feces issues that are there. There's, yet again, a lot of studies that were done. There was a one grader Boston study, one in 53 backyard flocks carried salmonella, and that strain rarely linked to human illness. Risk is real, but largely preventable with the sanitation practices in the ordinance. That's a really grand overview of it. There on the slide there is kind of an overview. Are there any other questions? Other than that, it's your ordinance to create. Thank you.

I had a thought. Well, I like seeing about the waste removal because from what I understand is, for lack of better term folks, chicken shit is hot. It's very high in nitrogen and I like seeing the collectability of it because we do live by the river and we all water our lawns. Would it be out of line to ask for a consensus from the surrounding neighbors? to have chickens, just so the neighbors know that it's coming, and they say, hey, I wanna have chickens. Could I have chickens, could I have chickens, could I have chickens, would it bother you? As long as it's following the right guy, because like I said a couple meetings ago, my neighbors were babysitting for hens. It turns out there was a rooster in there, and they don't crow at sunrise, they crows at three in the morning. And I think Jeff sent the guys out there, and those chickens were removed, thank you. And the other thing is, I didn't know you can get chickens at Tractor Supply? and they're not sexed. And lo and behold, six months later, you got who knows how many roosters. What do we do with those roosters? Take them to Rooster Depot and trade them in for something? It doesn't seem like a humane thing. Just like pit bulls, there's a stigma against roosters. Now, where do these roosters go? I know there's a place in New Smyrna down when you go down where the peacocks are, there's a ton of roosters in there that people just let the roosters go because they can't have them. these are questions that i've been thinking of about this i'm not against the idea i'm one of the council people been asked a lot about this and i would like the people to have the sickness i understand but the main thing is the waste and having your neighbor's approval would i think would be a good idea as a good neighbor waste is definitely in there this ordinance

for lack of better, or don't hit me with the numbers, about 10 or 12 pages, and it really dissects what we would do with the waste portion of it. When it comes to a question with your neighbors, I think any good neighbor would probably ask, but I can't mandate good neighbors when it comes to it, and I don't know that the ordinance, that'd be a attorney question, but the ordinance can mandate that either, but it is a thought. I don't think that we can mandate, but you should have a conversation with it. We can't be complaint-driven if somebody gets them. Transparently, I'm of the opinion that most people that want chickens already have them. And judging by the noise behind me, we would agree with that. So I think that putting something good in place that is kind of a uniform approach to it would be decent. I was an FFA for a long time, agriculture background, with the sexing of the chickens and everything else. You know, we would be in that situation now if you didn't have an ordinance and you had chickens at your house What would you do with those? You know, so I don't know if that necessarily creates the biggest issue there But ultimately speaking code enforcement to respond you would be issued and I'll talk about the revocation process, too I skipped over that but you would be issued a notice of violation with that your permit would be suspended until it's fixed and you have to reapply So there are a lot of safeguards in place with it

I think the ordinance is written great. I think it's very thorough. I think it takes care of the educational part. I think it takes care of the waste part, what to do, what not to do. You did a wonderful job. From a lot of the residents I'm hearing is, well, my neighbor already has them already and there's no issue. So this will be a way that we can regulate it. That's my opinion. I've always been called and asked about why they're not allowed. They think they are allowed. I get probably at least five or six messages a year saying, I didn't know I wasn't allowed to have chickens. So I think regulate, and when you Google, does the City of Edgewater allow chickens, it does say yes, because it was based on a potential ordinance that was going to come in 2017. So I think this is a way that we can regulate it. I think you read it great. Okay, we'll go to the citizens' comments and then back to council comments.

I think we had someone that wanted to comment on the last one. But anyways, what I'd like to say about chickens is my kids have been raising chickens. Oh, I'm sorry. For the record. Kim Long, 3312 Mango Tree. What they do with the roosters is they put them in the pot, at least my family. Chickens grow incredibly fast. If you're raising chickens, they're only going to lay eggs for so long. And once they get to a certain age, they're not laying eggs anymore. My family had them as pets. The kids carried them around, and as far as the poop went, they composted it. I have actually gone out to farms on Volco Road and purchased chicken poop. It's already, it's been in a pile, so it's composted. It's not hot. It does stay quite hot for a long time, but most people with chickens... put it in a compost pile. I have a compost pile in my backyard with no issues, no smell, no anything. If your compost pile is hot, you don't have a problem with flies or insects. You want your compost pile to get hot and just add the rest of your stuff to it. So anyways, thank you. There are a lot of chickens in town and I'm glad that you're finally addressing this because most of us thought they were legal already.

Thank you for your comments.

So a lot of information is wrong. You can state your name and address for the record, please. Black Umbrella Tree Drive. One of the things, you should have your neighbor's approval before you get chickens. I mean, you're only... 20 feet from your neighbor, and then you're going to have chickens crow too. I mean, not just the roosters. The chickens do too, and they're very loud. So, you know, 20 feet from my bedroom, and my neighbor's got all these chickens out there crowing. Yes, it's only five chickens, but, you know, 3 o'clock in the morning, I've got to listen to my neighbor's chickens. I mean, you go out partying, Diesel, and you've got to be waking up by your neighbor's chicken after you get home. if you go out partying. I know we all do, let's admit it. But anyway. Another rule, according to this ordinance, you don't have to own your own home. So when you move and you can't take your chickens with you, just like you can't take your cat with you to your new place, what are you going to do with your chickens? We do not have a shelter in Volusia County that if your permit's revoked or you can't take your chickens with you, to put these chickens or the roosters, if you happen to have a rooster. So what are you going to do with it? and according to these rules you can't put the chicken in the pot if it's a or the hen or roaster no you can't eat them according to these rules please no public participation so um and you know according to this rule um you can have them on any size lot you know it's not like you got to have a minimum 80 foot lot or like the county you it's a one-third acre lot to have chickens So you can have them on a 40-foot lot. So it's going to be very loud. And like Eric said, chicks are not sexed. So you're going to have roosters, definitely. Chickens attract coyotes, and coyotes kill them. And they can rip through the coops and get to the chickens. They're going to kill them. So do raccoons. They'll rip them through the coops, rip them out and kill them. But anyway, you should at least have a minimum lot size and your neighbor's approval before you can get a permit and a place to put them. I mean, we need a shelter for these chickens. People are dumping them up at 442 and the trails. And, you know, they go online. You know, there's roosters dumped. You see it all the time if you follow Facebook. And they're being dumped in New Smyrna. You should really consider this. At least put your neighbor's approval instead of forcing your neighbors to deal with the chickens. And they do stink, I know. My family's got chickens. My parents had a chicken farm with 5,000 chickens. They stink. They draw rats. They draw snakes.

Thank you, ma'am, for your comments. I appreciate it.

All right. Thank you.

Mayor, with your permission, I'll just correct one thing there. The ordinance does address, you can do anything with the chickens you want. You can eat them, you can have them for eggs, anything there that's none of our business. The only thing you can't use them for is commercial enterprise.

That's it.

Thank you, sir.

Robert DeVoe, 232 North Bridgeport Avenue. The thing with the chickens, I don't know if it's already in place that you can have them, whether you all decide to approve it or not approve it, stuff like that, that the people that have them are going to be grandfathered in. That would be nice to have your neighbors. And there's a lot of people that live from the outskirts. And I have a funny feeling the chief of police probably has about two acres and stuff. But we have a 48-unit complex. And we don't want to look like Key West and have a bunch of roosters. dealing with the e-bikes now in the middle of the damn traffic are we going to deal with the chickens and stuff i don't i kfc is my best friend don't get me wrong so so like i said nothing against that stuff but like i said it's uh it's it depends on where you live i think it is courtesy for your neighbors whether you have a house and you live on a quarter acre lot or acre lot or you know, have five acres, or if you live in a complex that has, you know, your townhomes and stuff where you have a bunch of cages in the back, that's my only concern.

Thank you, sir.

Oh my goodness, all these tall people ahead of me. Linda Moser, 319 Leaning Oak Drive in Majestic Oaks. I like chickens, I like eggs, I have no problem with this. I just wanna, as you know, I just like to be extra clear about stuff. So I wanna make sure that as an HOA, We're very clear that we're not going to permit this. And it's against our covenants. And that you allowing it does not make it OK for any of our residents to go and ask for a permit. So Chaz, you're going to be extra careful, aren't you? about not giving a permit in Majestic Oaks. Just ask first. I think there may be something similar.

Have you regulated through your HOA?

Yeah. Yeah, that's pretty common.

That's why my chickens were removed, because it wasn't in the covenant.

If we had that little network of HOAs that I keep wanting to do, you could make sure that they are all aware. And anybody who comes to you, that's maybe the first question. Do you live in an HOA? If it's OK with them, then you can have a permit. Right? That's all.

Thank you. Thank you. Hi, 1417 Needle Palm. I'm Mandy Bullard. This time I won't talk like I'm reading the negative impacts of your side effects of your prescription medication. So I think chickens are great. My kids want chickens. As long as everyone's picking up their poop, if they can't be worse than the dog owners, so as long as we pick it up i think it's great um also we are going to my kids and i we homeschool so we were going to create make a whole unit study on chickens and how they lay eggs and they would like to come in and present after we do that that would be good with you guys cool thank you great thank you so people buy chicken poop really yeah very good this is cool thanks for keeping this light tonight guys there's a lot of things going on here

back to council comments one of the questions i did have that was brought up as uh landlord approval uh we wouldn't be involved in that business that's something that the tenant would have to get we actually issued to the residents not the person you know when it comes to it so that's something that they have to go through and obviously city law doesn't supersede any hla aspect of

Because there is several HOAs that sometimes include that if they want an agricultural thing, such as Liberty Village.

Thank you for sharing, Eric. Just for clarity, so this goes for renters as well as homeowners. And do the renters have to have permission from the homeowners or?

So no, ma'am. We would regulate making sure that they've met the permit requirements. But when it comes to the actual rentee or renter or neighbor, we wouldn't be involved in that business.

OK, thanks. And also, when they're inspected, the coops are inspected, will be for, for example, make sure it's not a low point of the yard for hurricanes and excessive rain that they would not be in danger.

Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry.

No, that's fine.

So this is the first reading of the ordinance. My plan to come back is not to change it with anything else, but I will come back with a staff plan for it. But yeah, the point of the inspection would be to make sure that it's predator-proof, it has the right square footage, that there are some type of compost measures in place just to make sure that they do good stewardship of it. But I have no point. I talked with the animal shelter today just to make sure that we had everything taken care of there. But I will present the staff plan at the next meeting for the second reading just to make sure everything's okay.

I heard they're adding an addition to the .

Yeah, Roxanne's pretty excited. I hear it. That's fantastic. Thank you.

That's all I have. Testing? There we go.

Is there a motion to approve?

I make a motion to approve.

Do you have a comment? Go for it.

No, no, no. Are you ready? Oh, no. I was just going to say just as far as some of the other things that were addressed as being too close to the homes and some of the lot sizes. I mean, some of the setbacks are going to preclude some people in smaller lots from where, if they can do it, because it is 10-foot setback from any side or property, 20-foot setback from the dwelling or the neighborhood properties. If you only have so much space in your backyard, there's going to be people who still aren't going to fall into those. So I was just throwing that out there as well.

First, I make a motion to approve the first reading, Orders Number 2026-0-12, permitting the ownership of housing and chickens in residential areas.

Second.

Roll call.

Councilman Rainbird? Yes. Mayor DePue? Yes. Councilwoman Gillis? Yes. Councilwoman Dalbo? Yes.

Item 9F, Resolution Number 2026-R-19, Volusia Echo Grant Program Application for the New Edgewater Boat Ram, Trailer Head, and Amenities Project Phase 2, Staff Report.

Mayor and Council. microphone working yeah perfect seeking approval resolution number 2026 r19 authorizing the city manager to apply for enter into and execute grant documents associated with the volusia echo grant program for the new edgewater boat ramps trailhead and amenities projects for phase two thank you citizens comments

Council comments. This is great that we're doing this. It'll be a great thing for the City of Edgewater. I'm glad we're going after grant funding. Is there a motion to approve?

I make a motion to approve resolution number 2026-R-19 Volusia Echo Grant Program application for new Edgewater boat ramps, trailhead, and amenities project phase two.

Second, Rain Bird.

Roll call.

Councilman Rainbird? Yes. Mayor DePue? Yes. Councilwoman Gillis? Yes. Councilwoman Dalbo? Yes.

Item 9G, Resolution 2026-RJ23, June amended budget for fiscal year 2025 to 2026. Staff report.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Bridget Vass here, Finance Director for the City of Edgewater. The resolution before you this evening, resolution 2026R-23 is the June amended budget for fiscal year 2526. The City Council of the City of Edgewater amends fiscal year 2526 budget by revising the budget in total pursuant to the itemizations contained in exhibit eight. City staff have been working on various grant applications and review of the projects that could be funded through use of tree mitigation funds. An additional detail schedule was attached to the agenda this evening, providing further clarification of budget amendment items. Total budget amendment this evening is for $2,023,651, of which $769,500 is for transfers to capital projects and internal service funds for accounting controls. The total increase in expenditures of $1,254,151 For an increase in expenditures, 691.170 is covered by grants, impact fees and treaty mitigation funds, the remainder of use of fund balance. The budget amendment includes the following items. The general fund impact fees and general capital projects funds are increasing for the following. The community planning technical assistance grant in the amount of 44,000 with a $5,500 city match. That's actually the next item on the agenda this evening. Boat ramp grant match. In May budget amendment we brought before you 200,000 of general fund reserves and 684,400 in recreation impact fees towards this application process. During the application process, there was additional information brought forward. So an additional 625,000 cash match is needed to be included in the grant application process. Staff originally identified 150,000 in recreation impact fees towards a bike trail park that we had to postpone. So that's being reallocated to the boat ramp. And 475,000 in general fund reserves. There are transportation impact fees being used towards the additional amount needed for the air park silver sidewalks project in the amount of $62,019. $154,072 in transportation impact fees are being used for the Jones Fish Camp development agreement, which is also later on the agenda. Tree mitigation funds. are being used in the amount of 180,000 for the various projects as follows. 75,000 for Menard May Park landscaping. Landscape buffer for future city halls, 75,000. Public works and utilities staging lot landscaping, 15,000. Public works site landscaping, 10,000. And park town landscaping of 5,000. The CRA or Community Redevelopment Agency fund is reallocating projects for 140,000 being reallocated from facade grants towards purchase of land acquisition, for the purpose of land acquisition. A further budget amendment would be brought back before you for the CRA board to hear that both budgets are on the same page. Solid waste fund is increasing for application that was made for purchase of a Class 8 truck in the amount of $251,079. The grant was awarded. This item will also be discussed later on the agenda. Stormwater operating and capital project funds are increasing for 82,481 for storm pipe crossing at Jones Fish Camp Road, corresponding transfer. The appropriations and corresponding city match totaling two million that was identified in the original budget is just being further clarified that is being used for dredging and canal armoring. And that is all of the budget detail. It's staff's recommendation to approve resolution 2026 R-23, herein referred to as the June amended budget for fiscal year 2526.

Thank you, citizens comments. Council comments.

I did have one question on just general budget. The citizen made a comment to me not too long ago. I mean, we do need money. And the comment was that we have all these houses being built and all that. And they were just wondering, how much money have we gotten from the newer houses lately? Now, there's no cutoff point as far as my interest, but I believe that this gigantic windfall that everybody was expecting was only about $800,000, right? Which in a budget our size isn't really a lot of money. Is that kind of accurate? I was expecting it to be in the millions, but apparently it's not.

So I don't want to speak to that offhand. We're still working on current year budget. The last couple of years, the ad valorem taxes have increased approximately 1.4 million for approximately two years in a row. This year, I believe it is much lower coming into the budget process. But again, we're still gathering all that data. And as far as how much relates to new construction, I can pull that data together for you and get that to Joe.

Thank you. Is there a motion to approve?

Make a motion to approve resolution number 2026-R-23, June amended budget for fiscal year 2025-2026. Second.

Roll call.

Councilman Rainbird? Yes. Mayor DePue? Yes. Councilwoman Gillis? Yes. Councilwoman Dalbo? Yes.

Item 9H, Resolution 2026-R-22, requests to approve the submission for a Community Planning Technical Agency Assistant Grant to address the impacts of SB 399 to allocate the necessary funds for the grant match should the grant be awarded. Staff report.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. House Bill 399 established a new statutory requirement that local governments must charge fees for development permits based upon the reasonable direct and indirect costs associated with review, processing, and final disposition of development permits. So what this means is the city has to create up a new matrix to actually show these. true cost of that work. This grant would help staff complete that work. City staff are working on a hourly rate sheet currently. However, we hope to acquire this grant to help create a more robust, defensible new fee schedule in response to this bill.

Thank you, sir. Citizens comments? Council comments? Is there a motion to approve?

I make a motion to approve resolution number 2026-R-22.

Second, Rainbird. Roll call.

Councilman Rainbird? Yes. Mayor DePue? Yes. Councilwoman Gillis? Yes. Councilwoman Dalbo? Yes.

Under 9I, Resolution No. 2026-R-21, request to authorize the city manager to execute the Air Park Silver Palm Drive sidewalks 30th Street south of State Road 442, FPN 448814-1-32, locally funded agreement. Staff report.

Thank you. Back in 2018, the City of Edgewater applied and was awarded funding for the Airpark Road Sidewalk Feasibility Study from the River to Sea Transportation Organization. In 2021, the City completed that application for the grant and that feasibility study. um in 2025 the state of florida alerted staff that the airpark road had received funding for design city staff negotiated with the consultant vhb for the design cost unfortunately the design cost did increase to 705 284 originally they were projected uh to be about 394 000 so it's about a 300 000 increase for which the city has to pick up that cost in order to receive the grant funding from fdot city staff are recommending approval of the resolution as this is roughly about a six-year grant in the process thank you sir citizens comments back to council comments

i need to make a design i need to make a design company is there a motion to approve make a motion to approve a resolution number 2026-r-21 roll call councilman rainbird painfully yes mayor depew yes councilwoman gillis councilwoman dalbo yes

I'm 10 board appointments under this time. I'm 11 other business 11 a diesel engine emission mitigation program D E M P staff report.

The city staff is seeking approval for the submission of an application to the floor department viral environmental protection diesel emission mitigation program for the replacement of an existing class eight diesel vehicle. authorize the city manager to execute all necessary documents associated with the grant and approve the disposal of the identified fixed asset per grant requirements when awarded grant funds the estimated grant is in the amount of approximately 251 000 with no city match required thank you another great win by our grant coordinator citizens comments council comments is there a motion to approve

Make a motion to approve resolution number 2026-R-21. Second. Roll call. I'm sorry. If you'll reread. I make a motion to approve Diesel Emissions Mitigation Program, DEMP.

There was a second by Councilwoman Gillis, I believe. Roll call.

Councilman Rainbird? Yes. Mayor DePue? Yes. Councilwoman Gillis? Yes. Councilwoman Dalbo? Yes.

11B, SD2408, request for plenary plan and construction plan approval for Deering Park North, Phase 1, for 347 residential units located west of Interstate 995 and north of Indian River Boulevard within Deering Park North. Staff report.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The applicant first submitted to the city of Edgewater on September 10th of 2024. Subsequent reviews have taken place. The technical review committee has reviewed the following preliminary plot and construction plans and has found that the development meets the requirements of the comprehensive plan. The city's land development code and the Deering Park North MUPUD agreement recorded at book 8135, page 2309. The contracted city surveyor, as well as our third party engineers, excuse me, not Meat and Hunt, Zev Cohen and Associates, have also approved the plan set. The development here is part of Deering Park North, which lays out different neighborhoods within the community. And this 347 residential units is broken down between the neighborhood general, the neighborhood center, and the town square. This consists of a variety of lots between 60 feet in width, 130 feet in depth, all the way down to 24-foot wide townhomes. The applicant is meeting all the requirements and the stormwater master plan has reviewed the subject site. The Planning and Zoning Board did request that the ZEPCO and Associates provide a stormwater report and analysis, which has been included with this agreement and it has been shared with the Planning and Zoning Board. City staff recommend approval for the 1st Dairy Park North subdivision.

Thank you, Mr. Solstice. And just for the record, this is not a planned unit development agreement. They're already grandfathered in. That's just part of the administrative position, correct?

Correct. This is a preliminary plan, so this approves the basic layout of all the lots and then the engineer detailed drawings for all of the stormwater, sewer, water, utilities, etc.

So this is to help with stormwater utility, et cetera. And they're pretty much already grandfathered in.

Correct. They've already cleared the land. They've been working on the ponds as part of that stormwater master plan analysis to dig out those 400 plus acres for the entire site.

Thank you, sir. So they were included in our stormwater master plan. Citizens' comments.

kim long 3312 mango tree i just have a question did i hear you say 60 foot by 30 foot lots if mr solstice cares to clarify during his time he can

Robert Boe, 232 North Ridgewood Avenue. The stormwater stuff, exactly, is that going to affect anything as far as shores or anything else that we are already overcapacitated with stormwater? So is this going to?

Our stormwater master plan, I will answer this. This is supposed to just be a time for you to give your opinion to the council, but I will answer this question because it has been asked. The stormwater master plan presentation did include Deering Park, and it stated that they were going to hold more water than what they're holding right now. and the model did include a 100-year, 500-year, and a 1,000-year storm plan, of which did not affect the immediate Porter Shores water basin of that study. I'm not saying that's my opinion. That's what the study stated. The scientists and the engineers stated that. Thank you.

Shirley Chambers, West Pine Bluff Street. I do have a question. I've noticed that we've had, when we have a lot of rain, 442. Right now we have the sidewalks that were built, and I noticed that some of them are going up. What are we going to do with the water that's laying there now when it rains? When you've got this Deering Parkway, I know that eventually some of it's going to backflow, go towards the river. I mean, everything with the water goes somewhere. That's my question. I've seen it lay, because I know that's nothing but wetlands there. How are you going to build that up to make it where it's not going to flood? Because you're going to have people going up and down, again, more traffic flow because of people coming in, you know, to see where we live and build, you know, and buy. You know, how are you going to plan that area there? That's, I had that question, because it's always flooded there in that area. By where you also got the new properties built, you know, the new townhouse by Mission Road there.

For the council to go back questioning wise, but just for the record, we received our stormwater master plan back last month. It tells us what we need to do in certain areas all throughout the city to make sure that we're ensuring flood protections.

Okay, because I was asking for somebody to have a plan.

They're here. It's a stormwater master plan that we just got back.

Okay.

Thank you, ma'am. Back to council reports. I just want to state again that this has been talked about before I was born. This is not approving the subdivision itself. It's grandfathered in. They're part of our stormwater master plan. They're adding several retention areas. I'm not saying that I agree with the study, but they're grandfathered in. This is plat and to help utility lines along with stormwater and it is a part of our stormwater master plan. This is just administered at this point. It's not the PUD argument like New Smyrna Beach had to approve. Comments or questions from the council?

mr mayor it seems like they've created the mud now they're fixing it they're going to start rebuilding the place they're going to start making the retention ponds you're going to start seeing the track area the roads i believe they're done clearing whatever they're clearing now it's going to be put back together and like the mayor said it's already been moving forward is there a motion to approve

I make a motion to approve SD-2408, SD-24, request for a preliminary plot and construction plan approval for Deering Park North, Base 1, for 347 residential units located west of Interstate I-95 and north of Indian River Boulevard with Deering Park North.

Is there a second? Second, Rain Bird. Roll call.

Councilman Rain Bird?

Yes.

Mayor DePue? Yes. Councilwoman Gillis? Yes. Councilwoman Dalbo? Yes.

On an ICSD 2409, request for preliminary plat and construction plan approval for Deering Park North, Phase 2, 169 residential units located west of Interstate I-95, north of Indian River Boulevard within Deering Park North. Staff report.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Appreciate your time. Again, this is a request for preliminary plat approval for construction plan approval for Deering Park North, Phase 2. for 169 residential units. This was reviewed against the neighborhood general design standards of the Deering Park North MUPUD that consisted again of those 60 foot wide by 130 foot deep lots, 50 foot wide by 120 foot deep lots and 40 foot wide by 120 foot deep lots. but deep lots the applicant has met all the requirements they did first submit as with the other deering park north application on september 10th of 2024 subsequent reviews have taken place and the technical review committee has found that the applicant is meeting all requirements of the land development code the comprehensive plan and the deering park north mixed-use planned unit development agreement the city the contracted city surveyor as well as our third-party engineers

zeb cohen and associates have also reviewed and confirmed to the technical review committee that the application is complete thank you sir citizens comments council comments same thing yet again this is administratively this is part of the process and it is part of our stormwater master plan this is so we can regulate them it's already grandfathered in whether we like it or not we're legally checking boxes is there a motion to approve

I make a motion to approve SD 2409, a request for preliminary plat and construction plan approval for Deering Park North, Phase 2, for 169 residential units located west of Interstate I-95 and north of India River Boulevard with Deering Park North.

Second, Rain Bird. Roll call.

Councilman Rain Bird? Yes. Mayor DePue? Yes. Councilwoman Gillis? Yes. Councilwoman Dalbo? Yes.

Item 11D was... Hereby tabled item 11E, SA-2406, request for a waiver of all fee in association with the Wilkie Wonka Day event staff report.

The applicant, Robert Wilkie, has applied for a special activity permit to host Wilkie Wonka Day at Hawks Park Pavilion on December 13, 2026. The event features a Christmas giveaway, Santa, food trucks, and music. Mr. Wilkie is requesting the waiver of the application fee for the special activities permit in the amount of $25, the park reservation fee in the amount of $250, and 20 hours of police overtime and 10 hours of community service officer overtime in the amount of approximately $2,400. and staff the first to council and the applicant is present thank you sir citizens comments

Robert Wilkie, 209 San Remo Circle. First off, I want to say thank you all for taking the time to put this on the agenda. Last year, our event was a success, even though we started it really late in the year. So we're trying to get an earlier start this year. I just want you to know that this year will not be doing the same. The signs will not be at the Christmas parade. It's getting way too big. Instead, we will be giving away all the gifts at this event, approximately $20,000 in gifts. This will bring in residents from New Smyrna Beach, Oak Hill, Sam Sola, and our kids from Edgewater. Any profits made off of this will go to the nonprofit strongforyou.org, which the money will, in turn, help the people in our community. We will have local businesses, vendors, food trucks, entertainment, kids areas, and local schools participating. I would love to make this a partnership event with the city in the future to make it like Port Orange Family Fun Days. Again, I want to say thank you for taking this into your consideration. It's just getting way too big to be at the parades. and we just want to make it an event where we can give the gifts at the have the businesses that donate the gifts give them at the event instead of having kids at the hold signs at the parades we gave out like 3 000 candy bars last year between the new samaritan oak hill and edgewater parade and they held almost 3 000 signs just getting a lot for our staff to collect all those signs and make sure every kid is hit so i take thank you very much for your time thank you sir council commons

I'm glad you said it was earlier than last year because I was like, holy God, is it a year already? We just went through this. The kids, the kids love it.

I just want to thank Rob for all that you do for the community. You and your family and all your employees, you really make a difference. And I just want to say thank you.

Yes, thank you for all you do. Is there a motion to approve?

I would make a motion to approve essay 2606, request for a waiver of all fees and association for the Willy Wonka's Day event.

Second, Rain Bird. Seconded by Councilman Rain Bird, roll call.

Councilman Rain Bird?

Yes.

Mayor DePue? Yes. Councilwoman Gillis? Yes. Councilwoman Dalbo? Yes.

No disrespect to Rob, this isn't aimed towards you, but city manager, we talked a little bit about this. Why does he have to go in front of the city council? Can we get consensus to change that so it can be done at a staff level up to a certain amount? yeah of course we could create an ordinance that would set a threshold that city administration or myself could approve so perfect so and I think it would make it easier for the business owner to automatically know they're going to get approved not saying that we would ever deny something that's as great as this but can we get can I get a consensus on that to see if we could change that absolutely

What would that number be?

I think that's what we can discuss at the ordinance level. We could set it then. Does it have to go for two readings?

We'll bring an ordinance before you with a suggestion of the threshold.

Awesome.

Perfect.

I really would like to make a partnership with the city of Edgewater to be a part of it, you know, because I want to kind of have it like Port Orange Fund Days, Port Orange Family Fund Days. I know last year we were talking about it where the city couldn't be a part of it for some reason. I would like it to be a partnership. I'd like people to know that the city of Edgewater has an event going on. Try to create a yearly event, make it bigger. Last year we had, I think when we did the count, we had over 2,000 people show up. And I'd like to make it even a bigger event. So just something that yearly people can look forward to. Just think about it.

I'd be happy to meet with you, Mr. Wilkie, and discuss. Okay. You have my number.

Yeah, thank you.

I'm just thinking out loud with that, because would it be possible as something that because he has the nonprofit, if we could sponsor something through the nonprofit, if he applied for that?

I think the city manager should get with Mr. Wilke and discuss options, but I think he has our unanimous consensus and support to explore ways of how to partner with Mr. Wilke and his nonprofit. So let's see the options and let's make sure it happens. It is going to budget season, so it's perfect to discuss that now. Is there consensus on that? Yes. Great. Thank you, Rob. Yes. Item 11F, AR 2026-0-56, request to approve the Jones Fish Camp Public-Private Partnership Roadway Agreement. Staff report.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'll try and be brief. I know my staff report was a little lengthy. So just a little history to this, how this all transpired. So back in 2005, City of Edgewater approved the River Oaks condominium project. It was in that general election in 2006 that the voters of the City of Edgewater placed a charter amendment to restrict the height of residential development, the 35 feet tall east of US 1. Fast forward to 2023, the River Oaks Condominium PUD was replaced by the City Council with the Edgewater River Oaks MUPUD. So the original River Oaks Condominium was entitled for 308 residential units with a maximum height of 190 feet, 27 feet from Jones Fish Camp Road. Edgewater River Oaks replaced this for 196-unit two-story typology apartments with dry stack storage, hotel, and marina. So that's why city staff at that time supported it and still do. coming to today the developer met with riverfront estate subdivision community and received input on the design features so concerns regarding traffic safety and multimodal transportation options and aesthetics were discussed city staff used these concerns to help design the roadway that's before the council today Recall that in the Edgewater River Oaks MUPUD and the Yardley apartment site plan, the council did approve the prop share agreement, which had outlined that Jones Fish Camp Road, according to FDOT standards, would cost $3,776,311.29 to construct. Today, through this public-private partnership, the city would allow the developer to build Jones Fish Camp Road. This agreement allows them to hire a contractor, perform said work with the city providing reimbursement. In addition, the agreement provides for interim repairs of Jones Fish Camp Road at no expense to the City of Edgewater by the developer. The agreement also outlines that Jones Fish Camp Road must be completed within five years of the date of this agreement, which was important to Mr. Thomas, who could not be here tonight. The developer had provided two cost estimations for Jones Fish Camp Road. with a generic road build out and then one inclusive of the community's input with their new design, which turned out to be $3,776,311. The total cost of the city would be $1,888,155.82. This is an increase over the generic road. However, it's basically the same cost as it was outlined by FDOT. However, the city is getting a very nice, probably the nicest road that will ever be built in the city of Edgewater. City staff have identified sufficient funds with multimodal transportation impact fee to support the proposed roadway agreement. City staff leave the agreement before council reflects the council's desire to have the adjacent subdivisions input on the design and traffic calming and to have an aesthetically designed roadway that also addresses their concerns about interim repairs.

Thank you, sir. So we're going to include local residents and it is going to be funded based off of impact fees.

Yes, sir, so we've included, we had those community meetings, the developer did, the staff met with a handful of residents down there to discuss those changes and showed those while they were in their working product. Jones Fish Camp Road envisions two roundabouts, pavered, that are gonna be maintained by the developer of the Hotel Marina dry stack storage site. In perpetuity, the city still maintains the kind of generic areas of the road. It includes a bike lane on the north side of the road, And importantly, it does not take away right-of-way from the existing residence on the south side. The stormwater is also being addressed in this new road proposal. So the existing drainage for riverfront estates on Jones Fish Camp Road is insufficient in that right-of-way, and the developer has provided a stormwater pond and outfall to that pond on his property for the road. So overall, the roadway design will meet a higher standard of stormwater and also has those aesthetic features that were desired.

Thank you, sir. Open it up to Citizens Commons.

Mayor, members of the council, Mark Watts with the law firm of Cobb-Cole, 231 North Woodland Boulevard, DeLand. Appreciate the opportunity to be here on behalf of the applicant and partner with the city. I did prepare a couple slides if you want to see them just to kind of walk through this because I- Three minutes. Three minutes? Okay. If we can put that PowerPoint presentation up. So Ryan has given you kind of an overview of the agreement. I think the key thing was when we were here last year asking for, you approved the final amendments to the overall PUD, you made it clear that you wanted us to come back and work with the residents in the area on how that road would be designed and enhance it beyond just the standard road design. The great news I think if you listen to what Ryan's report covered was that the original cost of the road was just a reconstruction of an existing two-lane road. we've been able to add the enhancements that I'll walk through quickly, basically with the same budget and with the split with some of the impact fee revenues that the city has received from the other developments that have come in in the area. So I can go into the next slide. Primary issues we had, substandard width and pavement depth, inadequate shoulders, outdated stormwater design, no design, no stormwater for the roadway, It was accepted from the county, but never rebuilt to city standards. We've got growing demand from the existing residents, and we've got overhead utilities that will be undergrounded as part of this whole process. So if we can go to the next slide. There's a whole list of things on the checks and balances that are included in the agreement with regard to how the city controls the permitting, the design, where you get to go through and review the different design checkpoints at 6090 and final design. We have, on the development side, all cost overrun responsibility. So that's kept on that side. We've got performance bond requirements that meet your code requirements. You've got warranty that will be in place on the property after the development. We can go to the next slide. Cost breakdown, again, this is in your staff report. This is some of the various improvements and the various costs. Again, all cost overruns go on the development side of this. We can go to the next slide. I really just wanted to detail the design. What we heard from the residents was they wanted safety. They were concerned about a long straightaway there. Stop sign at Alice Street was one of the things that we all kind of agreed was probably not sufficient because people may blow through it. So we redesigned it to fit within the existing right-of-way, but to provide a roundabout at Alice Street. So there's a interruption of that traffic flow. The pavement widths were reduced to 10 feet on the lanes so that you could include the lanes within the existing right-of-way, but also provide traffic calming. We've got the dedicated bike path. That was another thing we heard from the residents. They wanted to have that multimodal option. They wanted to have a bike path in addition to the sidewalk on the south side of the road. Undergrounding the utilities, providing landscape in the medians and the roundabouts that would be maintained by the property owner in the far east side of the road. Stormwater, there is no existing stormwater for Jones Fish Camp Road, so we've provided a pond on our client's property to accept that stormwater and provide drainage for the city road in perpetuity. and then adding turn lanes at the intersection along with the possibility of that future signalized intersection. So if we can go to the next slide, this is just, again, profile of those road designs. We had to work hard to go through that 60-foot right-of-way and make all those improvements fit. Our engineer, Nick Peat, is here. I think he did a great job working with your staff to come up with this. Your public works staff has been great. Ryan's been great to go through and come up with the design that really met the concerns and the list of issues that we heard in the in the workshop that we hosted. We can go to the next one. How the public funds are safeguarded. We have to submit documentation on all costs. The city can object to that. We've got performance bond requirements, three stages of plan review, 30-day review of all the materials submitted prior to release of any payments. We've got the cost overruns, as I've already indicated. You've got your standard insurance and indemnity requirements, and then the warranty that's provided once the roadway is accepted by the city after it's been inspected as meeting all of the applicable standards. Go to the next slide. this is where we are this kind of lays out the the steps in the process we're here at the you know final review and approval of the agreement stage and then from here we start working through the stages and the steps that have been established and working with your staff for the agreement finally at the end of that the city upon final inspection would accept the roadway as you know the city roadway to be maintained with the enhanced features that were added continuing to be maintained by the developments

thank you sir okay we're here for any questions we appreciate it is there any further citizens comments good evening jim lovgren jones fish camp road

As you know, the residents are concerned about the primary use of just one access road to the Marina Hotel complex. And I want to point out something here, because Riverfront Estates was developed with 138 housing units. Regulations or law, whatever it is, developments with 100 units or more require two access points, two roads in, two roads out. And thanks to the magic of a structured plan unit development agreement, that was waived in the case of Riverfront Estates. Riverfront Estates, according to the traffic impact study, added 1,250 trips daily to Jones Fish Camp Road. This development, according to the traffic impact study from March 2023, adds over 6,500 new trips daily on that road. Now, we have a traffic issue here, a public safety issue, because that's what that whole issue of two access roads is about, public safety. If there's a hurricane, if there's a tornado, let me point out, 2012, a tornado ripped through Terramore, right next door to us, right through the existing riverfront estates that didn't exist at that point, came out onto the Indian River, took out the walkway on the dock, at 185 the property that was illegally cleared and now all the mangroves are missing too now point is things happen there and residents need to get out of there if there's a wildfire and that road is blocked where are they going we're going to jump in the river no if there's a god forbid a hazardous uh fire in a boston whaler There's a lot of nasty chemicals there. If they catch fire, you'd be evacuating a mile around it. Where are we gonna go? So you need to think the liability here of what the city stands to lose if there is a catastrophe and it costs human life because there's only one access road in and one access road out of that area. And this is, you know, just keep building, building, building. We're gonna build this here and then the next guy says we're gonna build this here and we're gonna exempt this and exempt that. And before you got, before you know it, you're in deep doo-doo, deep chicken shit. which gets hot. Anyway, I had a petition I gave out last year. It was in July. I had 29 residents from Jones Fish Camp Road sign that opposing. I'll read it. We, the residents of Jones Fish Camp Road, oppose the Indian River Resort and Marina unless a second asses road is built for its construction and operation. If you want me to submit it again, I can. Thank you.

Thank you, sir, for your comments and concerns. I appreciate it.

My name is Vince Boscovich of the 353 Riverfront Way, Edgewater, Florida. I know in May, we recently purchased a home in Riverfront Way. Part of purchasing the home, it was in result of having this marina being built, having the road being upgraded, and as everybody's saying, it's gonna be the nicest, biggest, beautiful road in Edgewater. So I'm not sure how the nicest, biggest road would be hard to get out of and how to evacuate from a disaster. As a homeowner there, I know everybody in our neighborhood wants it. We've all been looking forward to it. And we were actually even promised by Taylor Morrison that it was going to be something that was promised to us as one of the 140 homes and hound homes that were being purchased there. So I think this project should go forward. I don't see any reason why it shouldn't go forward. It seems like the builders are being very, very reasonable, trying to pay half the cost to improve our community, to improve our home value, and give Edgewater something that everybody could be really proud of. I mean, it seems like it's going to be a very nice, shiny monument, not an eyesore, not something that Edgewater should not take into consideration. All right, have a nice one.

Thank you, sir. We appreciate your comments.

Hi, I'm Ann Snyder at 180 Jones Fish Camp Road. And my concern is those of us that live on the latter end of Jones Fish Camp Road are going to be impacted the most for all of this construction. And it's going to put stress on our air conditioner units, all the dust and everything that's going on there. When we bought our home, we were not told anything about this development. Like evidently later people were, we were told it was gonna be a small boutique hotel with a small marina. And now it's gone into where we're gonna have Quonset Huts storing boats, which is fine. We're boats. We have a boat. We love the water. But my concern is the impact that it's going to have on our houses with the road right now. It's not a two-lane road. You have to slow down and let people go ahead. And with all this added construction that's going to be coming, it's going to impact our homes and we're just basically screwed until the developer gets this done, and it's not, it's something the city really needs to think about, the impact that it's gonna have on.

This is for the discussion of the road.

Yeah, well, that's why I'm talking about the road, and the construction of it, the construction of the development is going to affect us, and the city needs to look at that. and ensure something is that it's going to affect our cars we're going to have asphalt all over our cars we're going to have asphalt on our homes we're going to have dust on our homes from all of this and those are things that y'all really need to look at thank you thank you ma'am for your comments

Hi. Renee Richards, 136 Jones Fish Camp Road. I lived pretty much at the beginning of the riverfront estates, and I'm afraid of this project really from the beginning anyway. I'm sorry. I disagree with some of my neighbors, but I really am against the project because I believe I don't care how pretty you say a road's gonna be, the transition for three to five years is gonna be awful. Because it's gonna be a dirt road, it might as well be a dirt road. Because all the construction vehicles coming up and down, you know they're gonna be tracking dirt out. And I'm just not for the project anyway because I don't think we need it. I don't even know who's going to come to a hotel there. I mean, people say, oh, we need the dry stack storage. It's the last spot that's available. Well, where are they coming from? Who's going to be paying those high rates? Orlando people? We need more Orlando people here? I don't think so. And I don't even think Orlando people are going to pay $4.50 a night at this hotel they're talking about with a restaurant. And wow, that's going to be gorgeous right next to Boston Whaler. I can hear Boston Whaler at my house. Down there, they're going to hear it all. And I would not pay $4.50 a night, even $3.50 a night, to stay at some place where you get to hear a factory and smell fiberglass. Thanks so much. Thank you, ma'am, for your comments.

Lisa Archer, 176 Jones Fish Camp. I am right across the street from the lift station. And I am very excited about the marina and about everything that it's bringing to our community. I'm excited about the growth and the economic development and everything that it's going to bring to our neighborhood. I'm not excited about the dirt and debris, but I am excited about the marina and a place to park our boat because we're planning on bringing our boat there. We're planning on bringing our friends and our family to stay at that hotel. so they don't have to stay in New Smyrna Beach or stay in my living room or in my bedroom, anywhere. So I'm hoping that the development will be as quick as possible to minimize the disadvantages, but also that the road will be going all the way to where DG Market is. because that area doesn't have a really good sidewalk for us to be able to walk all the way down to the end of the road uh the road the sidewalk narrows at that edge and goes around in an unusual way and so i'm hoping that the uh that it'll be easier to go back and forth thank you ma'am

Robert DeVoe, 232 North Bridgewood Avenue. Listen to some of these people that live there and do not live there. I don't live anywhere around there, so my concern is not to the road there. But has the city council ever thought about going out and having a meeting with a lot of the owners and with you, sir, and sitting down with them and hear them? Because like I said, me speaking about it has no bearing on them because i live nowhere around there but it would be nice for the city council to to take a monday night or or tuesday night get together and make a meeting with all the residents out there and hear the pros and cons and to get the true feel from the people that live out there not just from people that live here in edgewater thank you sir

okay i'll go first that was one of the lone no votes on the marina project but we are where we are you speak about your pud somebody brought that up not having two interest points that was approved ryan or city manager maybe you would know i think in 2018 2017 before 2020. yeah riverfront estates was entitled

Almost 10 years.

So nobody here was a part of that planning, and we are where we are. Unfortunately, you say, you know, who would spend that much money? Who can afford to pay the dry racks and storage? I think you're correct, but you know what? Look at previous council meetings. The same people said that when they were changing Fager Seafood to Outriggers, and look what we have. We have dry boat storage. $450,000 they pay, plus a monthly HOA fee, just to have a dry dock boat storage. So somebody has the funds, and a lot of them are local people. Not all of them, but a lot of them are fisher charters and everything else. So I'm not for the marina project. I think it's pre, before our time. It wasn't part of the stormwater master plan. There's a lot of concerns there with the mangroves, and most importantly, concern with traffic improvements. But, you know, We are where we are. We are trying to help you. We could just leave the road how it is, like one resident stated. I'm all for leaving Edgewater how it is right now, but we're in this right now because we didn't plan for the infrastructure 20 years ago when we knew this growth was coming. So it's a lose-lose situation, but we are where we are, and I think enhancing this road will help with stormwater, it'll help with areas around there, and it's not on the immediate taxpayer because it's being used for impact fees. This is not a situation where really anybody is winning because it wasn't planned out before this process. It should have already been done before these two developments were on the horizons of books, but we are where we are, and I'm sorry, I didn't... really like the marina project because we didn't have the infrastructure there already but we need a plan for the future and helping storm water in that area and helping plan you know for the traffic daily counts it'll help for future infrastructure and you know I know you guys have a lot of concerns I think Taylor Morrison is communicating with you from what I hear for your HOA issues and if they're not please reach out and I'll reach out to Taylor Morrison again

Okay, I'll go next. Well, I'm, I was for the development. And I was excited to have this investment in Edgewater for our for residents to be able to have a place to go, Dr. boot, have dinner or lunch on the river. So I was I was for this project. I'm happy I met with residents at the beginning stages and heard their concerns. And I took them to the city manager at the time. I like that we have a five-year plan on it. It's not going to go on for 10, 12 years. I understand the aggravation while you're living there, the big dump trucks, the noise, the dirt, the dust. So I understand that's going to be very frustrating. And I appreciate the fact that they're going to be working on the roads throughout that time. They're going to get the road right, and then as the project moves along, the way I understand it, there will be repairs made periodically. if needed and then the end when everything is done the project's complete everything is is okayed then the um the beautiful road will be built and i also very happy that they're going to help with the storm water for that area that there is none and they're putting the pond on their property which i know is going to be a great help to the residents there as well that's all i have

They're putting the power underground, correct? I go down there and I'm looking at the poles. I'm like, how are they going to fit? So they're going to drop it. I want to know how one way in and one way out got past Mr. Bob Andrew Kovacs. Because like I said, that guy taught me on planning and zoning, you should have a second way in and out. And is there any way that this can be pulled off? Because All it takes is a tree. Well, I was going to say a telephone pole, but there ain't going to be any telephone poles. And believe me, folks, I get it. Rob Wilkie just left, but he lives on the other side of San Remo. I just had Woodbridge Lakes go up right behind my fence. And I put a nice built-in pool in. Planning and zoning gave me a variance. And I put a nice bar in, and I got this beautiful sun top. dust i mean it wasn't that bad i was right up against the fence line i had beautiful sunset coming over the trees and they saw me coming folks because i had no idea i got a good deal on the house and five six months later i understand why because that all of a sudden there were bulldozers there one thing that would be nice to address to ask taylor morrison moving forward there's sound ordinances here and they're not allowed to start construction until like seven o'clock but the guys in the bulldozers they parked their bulldozers facing our houses and they'd start it up at five in the morning with those two big spotlights facing my bedroom window at five in the morning So a lot of this stuff, as the mayor said, is already set forward. And as much as I'd like to vote no for this, because I can't imagine the person at the end of the street. It's gonna take what, within five years, we're hoping to pull this off? no it as it is what it is like the mayor says but can they make a possible i mean i understand you want to work as best as you can with these people because as far as what they have so far with the i was at one of the meetings with these people and the handoff of their hoa the way it went. They were supposed to hand over their HOA, which is really none of our business, but I'm just listening to these people at the meeting and I'm listening to this representative of Taylor Morris and say, well, that's the way it is, folks, and you gotta hand over this HOA. I'm just repeating what I said at the last meeting. You got to hand over the HOA, have your lawyer call our lawyer. Now there's two lawyers involved. Sorry, Mr. Sabatini and Mark, but two lawyers are now involved when there didn't have to be legal fees. Their HOA fees are getting pulled away now when stuff could have been figured out before that. And these people are up against an inevitability. even if i was at the end of the road i'd say okay let's get a new road and let's get those poles dropped if there's a way of getting them another way out of there if you look at the map and it really isn't they were entertaining buying the land on the other side of the property i believe and that's not an that's not a possibility i feel for these people i mean and to all the developers out there try to work with these people and keep the impact to them i did get dust They're not kidding. My air conditioner went bad right before that. And there is dust on everything. And there's an impact to these people. So we just need the people that you represent to work with them. And if you can get the entrance way, way up in the front maybe, because it's not built in the property, right? come in, cut a hole in that fence, come in that property, go down there, then come back across. Rather than going down and across the road, there's gotta be some way that they can make it work better for these people. That's all I'm asking. We gotta get the best that we can for them.

I'd like to actually ask a resident a question. Mr. Lovegren, I think we've spoken the most. I've seen you here at a council meeting. If I could just ask you a question real quick, not from the attorney. How many community meetings have taken place with a representative from this general development area where the road was discussed?

We did. We had one.

Only one.

If I could, there is one way that you could create, besides Ralph Richardson's property, which he was basically insulted by the offer he was given. in light of the fact that it was a little more than $200,000 for five acres with waterfront. Because that's what they were buying the other parcels for at the time. There's a property that's right on Route 1. And you could buy that property, or somebody could, and run it right into the cul-de-sac on Riverfront Way. You look at the county map, it's one property. Two and a quarter acres. I don't have the address. I get the address written down there. But that would provide a second access road for the community, at least. It wouldn't do anything about the development, but it does provide a second access road on the cheap. Once again, Ralph Richardson property, if that was available, which he would sell it at the right price, but there you could buy that property, make a road, and put houses on that road at the same time.

thank you if you could email that parcel over to us that would be amazing for the record thank you okay back to council comments citizens comments has been closed i just had one question it's my understanding weren't we were pretty because of the existing agreements we have to upgrade that road in the first place and this is the better the best option

yeah so the what's before the council right now is whether or not we upgrade the road to this newer design standard or we upgrade the road to our basic standard detail roadway which yeah the lanes will get a little wider um there'll be a little bit of a grassy swale and shoulders but it won't be anything

So no matter what, it's going to end up moving forward. But what we're looking at doing is having it be a better project with some hopefully increased stormwater.

Correct, yeah.

I mean, the intent here is to work with this developer to rebuild this road that addresses some of these concerns. Jones Fish Camp Road will become a lighted intersection. That'll have benefits to that community. And Jones Fish Camp is a substandard road. So even if, hypothetically, they found a different access, well, that now takes away all that money that the city would need to spend to upgrade Jones Fish Camp Road. So Jones Fish Camp Road has to be improved. It's just whether we improve it to kind of a basic standard or you meet the residents halfway and try to improve the quality of life down there.

Thank you, sir. Is there a motion to approve without further council discussion?

Make a motion to approve AR 2026-0156. Request to approve the Jones-Fish Camp Public-Private Partnership Roadway Agreement.

Second, Rain Bird.

You have to say which one we're going to choose.

Mr. Attorney.

sorry what's the question we didn't discuss so the staff report has it the way that was presented in the staff report is that it's for the enhanced roadway okay that is the agreement okay that's what i thought yeah there's a motion second roll call councilman rainbird yes mayor depew yes councilwoman gillis yes councilwoman dalbo yes item nine item 11g city clerk discussion staff report

Mayor and Council, as you know, the selected candidate for the position of city clerk declined our offer. So I'm looking for some guidance on our next steps. You had previously interviewed two other candidates, Ms. Celine Kidwell uh has accepted another job elsewhere and uh miss cassandra kilgore remains interested in the position so i'm just seeking your direction if you would like to discuss offering employment to ms kilgore or you'd like to make a motion that we re-advertise the city clerk position for a new recruitment process thank you sir open a public hearing citizens comments

No, this is related to city clerk, agenda item. Council comments. I think the process didn't take too long. I would like to open it up for one work week to see what kind of applicants we receive.

I don't know, I'm, I'm torn. But Cassandra has been here twice. I'm just feel that at some point, we're going to need to get stability in the city clerk's office.

If you want to, I'm fine with it.

But I don't know, I'm I, I'd like to see her take the position or have more conversation on her taking the position.

She's been here four times. She's great. She's very involved. She's still here. I don't know what's on Reddit that this seat here, I don't get it. It's a little tough. It's political, 74 FOIA requests from one person. It's no easy job. This girl's still willing. She's got great credentials. She's showing up and she still wants the job. And I just put it out another week. We already know. Please no public participation at this time. We already know three times what applications we're getting. And then people that were offered jobs We made an offer and made a beautiful offer. In fact, we were going to increase the offer and pay for her to fly out here from Colorado. She turned the job down. That's full disclosure, folks. We got somebody that's willing to take this job, somebody who's young and has Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals experience. I'm sure she's got a hell of a role at Rolodex. phone list she's got a hell of a phone list and some experience and staff staff recommended her again she keeps making the cut i just don't know why we're gonna can i get some minutes please you know i don't have an issue with her it's a very important quality you know it's very important position and each and every time we got better applicants we only opened it up

one other time for the record after Sarah had left so I just you know I think that we shouldn't fall short and see exactly what applicants we have and do our due diligence is my opinion I think Cassandra's great she has qualifications if that's the way the council would like to go tonight then I'm fine with that but I also do think that Mike Thomas should have a say as well but I like I think she's a great person.

That was going to be my next comment was that this should this be if we are going to move the other items to the charter review because Mike isn't here if we should also talk about the city clerk discussion at a later time because of Mike not being here because that is a major decision.

I think it depends if Monique is comfortable with that decision.

Is that till next month, so we'll be waiting another month?

Before we have a decision to advertise, I think that we should try to expedite it if we can, with a decision either to hire Miss Gillibald. Should we get Mike on the phone?

Call a friend.

I just feel like we're rushing into a position because she has been here and she shows up, but if you really love a community, you're going to show up and want the position. She has been the only one that has expressed interest, and she is great. She'll probably be at the top of my list. I'd just like to see what other resources are there. It's just my opinion.

If we're going to be, well, if we're not voting on it tonight and we would be having Mike there for the discussion, would it hurt to open it up for a week before, and then she's going to be back in the pool either way, and then it comes back for the next meeting for the vote when Mike is here? Because we really can't move forward to offer it to her right now.

I don't know. Better hope this girl's still here because she just keeps getting rejected. I'll be surprised. I'm going to make a $5 bet that she has another job by then. I see clarification. I'm just saying she's hungry.

I need clarification on the process. So if we're going to table it to the next council meeting, you want us to advertise the job and then we're not going to be able to advertise make selections and interview in that time period.

It should only take about a week.

Well, no, we can advertise, but then we'd have to have the staff interview, and then you'd have to have the city council interview. That's sometimes challenging to schedule, to do everyone's scheduling.

Are we not having the special meeting, or are you just pushing the charter amendments to the July meeting?

So we're going to try to schedule July 6th.

So that's over a month.

Yeah. The next council meeting is July 6th. And I never got clear consensus at the beginning of the meeting. Do we want the charter amendments on a special meeting? Or if we can do that at the end of June?

I think that's a great idea. That's going to take a long time, and it's going to be a lot of discussion, and the residents are going to want to have their say, so I think a special meeting, in my opinion, would be the best way to do it.

Just for record and clarification to the city manager, I let him know this morning when he stated that this was a potential option. I'm going out of town the 16th through the 28th. I've had a way long pre-plan.

We can definitely override your schedule, of course. That's what I'm trying to do right now, is trying to figure out when. So we should do...

We could do the special meeting on the 15th.

Five by me. So tentatively we can... Okay, but let's get back to the city court discussion. That's the agenda item. We can come back to that for a special meeting for the amendments. Right now the discussion is to hire or table the agenda item or open it back up.

i understand wanting to wait for mike but he i i don't know i just feel what do you think eric i can't say anything i don't know i i would like to move forward with the with the choice but the council wants to wait at least we know it'll only be two more weeks um if we do the special meeting on the 15th. That's why we're talking about the special meeting, I believe, just because we can, Mike will be here for that meeting, hopefully. And what happens if he's not? I mean, I don't know at what point we're not going to be able to.

Are you making a motion or are you having a discussion? I mean, if we're moving. I'm not trying to be rude. I'm just generally asking. Would you like to continue having a discussion or is it a motion? I was still discussing. Okay.

I would like to make a motion to appoint Cassandra as the new city clerk.

Second, Rainbird. Roll call.

Councilman Rainbird? Yes. Mayor DePue? Yes. Councilwoman Gillis? Yes. Councilwoman Dalbo?

Yes. Okay.

Clarification would be to offer her the position and negotiate. And then we're going to go with the same salary range between 93 and 97.5. Yes.

Yes.

Okay. Like who would turn that job down?

And she lives in Volusia County, I believe, or Lake Mary. So I don't believe that there should be a relocation fee.

no we would not we're not offering that right okay item 12 officer report city clerk i have nothing at this time thank you city attorney uh you're there in session right now in the legislature so make sure you're contacting your state legislators about the importance of responsible legislation that's not going to devastate the city so that's probably Once this is over, we'll do the bill update we talked about last month.

Thank you, sir. Citizens' comments.

kim long 3312 mango tree um two weeks why don't you put this back on the agenda in two weeks i want to talk about the amendments and why do we need charter amendments as the mayor just said we need to look and plan forward you guys have been putting out fires for the last 10 years in the city because not one council has written a code for any of the things that are in there and you could have some of you claim that these passive building practices for new construction should be ordinances please ordinances for dog poop and loud neighbors you could have put these in the land development code but you didn't or you could put them in the comp plan but you didn't but you had time to vote yourself a raise. And I agree, you needed a raise, but this flooding issue is way more important than that. Somehow you forgot to put all these in our code. This is why our charter committee wrote them into the charter where a vote of three cannot change them. You use SB 180 as an excuse, but that will expire next year. Either way, let's be prepared. This is the time to put teeth into building practices in the city of Edgewater. We all know that bringing in fill that puts homes four foot higher than our neighbor's homes will flood them. You need to let the voters decide if they want to stop this practice because you haven't. The excuse that stem walls or native and Florida-friendly plants will add too much to the price of a new home is ridiculous. These are passive requirements that will alleviate flooding and save water. We're in a drought. Last month, you were worried about toilet to tap. So this month, show some concern and pass water saving charter amendments five, six, and seven. No matter the cost, if a developer builds it, they will come. Florida is gold. There's no stopping growth, no matter what regulations. Amendment 11 is community engagement and public information, and I think it may be the most important one of all the amendments. We need the people, we the people, would like to know what the hell is going on in this town. I for one requested no, the amount that has been spent for electricity upgrades, mold remediation, roof repair and remodeling right here in this building. I know you have outgrown it, but as you know, there's no money to build a new city hall. Three times I was told that this building's in a flood plain. When did it last flood? Meanwhile, your constituents are flooding. According to the FEMA flood map, this building is not in a flood zone. Your parking lot's in the flood zone, but this building is not. Pass these amendments so that they will go on the ballot and let us vote on them. You work for us, at least until the elections. Since I have a few seconds left, I would like to thank all of those who serve on the charter committee.

Thank you, Ms. Long, for your comments. Thank you, charter committee. Please know public participation.

Hi, Mandy Bullard, 1417 Needle Palm. I just wanted to point out how quickly we made land development code changes just today on signs. And I think that's the kind of pushback I'm getting when we're talking about charter amendments is that all this stuff belongs in the land development code. I have been coming to these meetings for four years and hearing people get up here and complain about flooding, their homes are flooded, the roads are flooded, we can't get in, we can't get out. Now we're, South Jones Fish Camp can't get, it's not going to be able to get out either. I do want you all to look up and look out at who is still here. I know we had a big full room when it was the suits and the ties. But these are the people that live here and we're going to be here long after they leave. So we need to put us first. And then second, thank you for your time.

Thank you, ma'am, for your comments. We appreciate them.

Linda Mosher, 319 Leaning Oak Drive in Majestic Oaks. I just wanted to remind you how much I bugged you and bugged you and bugged you and bugged you all of last fall about the development in front of Majestic Oaks. I have seen that there was a change and I just don't know who to thank. So I'm putting my thank you out into the universe for whoever it was that did come back and change that entrance plan so that there is now apparently from what I see a front entrance from US 1 that has been added. so now instead of just all of that traffic going off onto oak branch the way we were concerned about that has been changed at least in plants that i've seen that are public so i don't know who changed their mind i don't know how that came about but whoever it was i can't thank you enough so thank you ma'am that would be our building department along with city manager

I just wanted to follow up on my comments that I started with and forgot where I was going with earlier because none of my printers worked and I didn't write anything down. But my point was everybody's talking about this being in a flood zone. Well, frankly, 10 years ago, somebody that worked in the city said the building's too small. You need a bigger building for the workers. Nobody's actually saying that. I don't know why not. Would it be feasible to buy or rent the Babcock building? I mean, is there some other place that you guys could move in the meantime? When it comes to money, I don't know how much money this city's got. I have no clue. I can't even access the agenda when I get online. You know, I don't know who's running the website or what, but the point is, you know, watching you guys work sometimes, it's like I'm watching a SWAT team making a cake. You know? I just, there's got to be some other way that you guys can develop this property and get a new place for the city workers to work. I mean, this is an old building. I'm sympathetic. And I guess at some point I would like to have a meeting with somebody who knows something. I don't know whether it's him or her. I don't know who these people are. There has to be some way to, I guess the one point I really wanted to make is that I didn't want to throw a lot of the people that have been here, that I've talked to, that I've heard, that have been to the planning and development zone. what it's okay to make one house four foot higher than all the other houses in the neighborhood but if you make 500 houses all higher than the next neighborhood I mean come on there has to be some strategy other than the one that you're using which is to honor agreements that you made 30 years ago but there's got to be some other way to do this and I don't know what it is but I said my piece and good night, everybody.

Thank you, sir, for your comments. I appreciate it. We are adjourned.