City Council - Regular Meeting

Call to order. I call to order this August 3rd, 2026 City Council meeting. Roll call.

Mayor DePue. Present. Councilwoman Gillis. Here. Councilman Thomas.

Mr. Mayor, he's on the phone. Let me see if he.

Councilwoman Dalbo? Here. Councilman Rainbird?

Here.

City Manager Mahoney?

Present.

City Attorney Sabatini? Here. And Assistant to the City Clerk Tupin, present.

Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please remain standing for a moment of silence. Okay. Item two, approval or changes or modification to the agenda. Mr. Manager, is there any?

No, Mr. Mayor.

Item three, approval of the minutes. Item 3A, regular meeting November 3rd, 2026. B, regular meeting March 2nd, 2026. C, regular meeting July 6th, 2026. D, regular meeting July 20th, 2026. Comments, questions, or deletions? Is there a motion to approve? I don't think your microphone was on. There was a motion by Councilwoman Gillis. Is there a second?

Second.

Seconded by Mr. Rainbird. Roll call.

Councilwoman Dalbo? Yes. Councilman Rainbird?

Yes.

Mayor DePue?

Yes.

Councilwoman Gillis? Yes. Councilman Thomas?

Yes.

Item four, presentation of proclamations, five certificates and donations. Seeing none at this time, item five, city manager report.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I do a few things. First, I wanted to recognize our team member of the month for July. It is my pleasure to recognize Frank Vignotti as the City of Edgeworth July 2026 team member of the month. For the past 11 years, Frank has been instrumental in transforming the city's GIS program into a modern, comprehensive system that supports every department and serves our residents, business community, and regional partners. Through his innovation and technical expertise, Frank has modernized public works operationally, developed interactive maps that make city information more accessible to the public, and most recently created the city's capital projects dashboard, providing greater transparency into our ongoing infrastructure investments. Frank's dedication to innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement has had a lasting impact on our organization. He consistently looks for new ways to improve city services and enhance the efficiency of our operations, and Frank is here to come to the front.

Thank you for all you do, sir. We appreciate all you do for our great community. Thank you, Mr. Frank.

I wanted to highlight some of Frank's work. So this is our new capital project dashboard that Frank created with staff's input. And it's on our website. It's to help with transparency and it really shows Most of our capital projects, we have a lot of questions from citizens like what's occurring at certain locations. And this gives them a place to go to and see an overview of all our projects, because there are many. So if the clerk could go, you just go to our website first off. You go to community residents and visitors. You slide over to the city map section and click on that. You scroll down. You hit the right arrow there. The first one left capital improvement projects. What this is is a dashboard of the majority of our capital projects that are occurring in the city. So there's a lot of questions in the past about like the 18th Street Canal dredging project. So if the clerk could scroll down to SW 2506. And what that does is it shows you where the project is located within the city. If you look at the right pane on the screen there, There's two PDFs, if you could scroll down a little bit. So it gives an overview of the project, and then it also gives the project manager's information. So if the community wanted more details, they could directly email the director or the project manager. And then it shows the percentage of completion. So like this project ourselves is a very big deal for Edgewater and our stormwater infrastructure. If you scroll up, It provides a projected completion date. It shows how the funding appears and the location. So it's a really great tool and I encourage the general public, if they see a project happening and they want more information, to go here first and then if they have further questions, they can email the project lead. So that's one of the great things that Frank has done over the past few months. Other than that, I just wanted to thank our parks and rec staff and all the volunteers and vendors who helped with the backpack giveaway. I know all of you were there to help participate and I appreciate your help too. The city approximately gave away 500 backpacks, 30 bicycles, 4 TI-84 calculators. We had some leftover backpacks that are being distributed to the Volusia County Public Library, the YMCA, after-school program, Indian River Elementary, Head to Order Public, New Smyrna Middle, and New Smyrna High. So it was a really great event, and I really thank the parks team and all the staff and volunteers that helped make that come to fruition. With that, that concludes my report.

Thank you, sir. Item six, citizen's comments. This is a time for the public to come forward with any comments they may have. Citizen's comments related to any agenda matter may be made at the time the matter is before the council. Please state your name and address. Please limit your comments to three minutes or less.

I saw several of you looking at me, so I guess it's my turn. This building, as I noticed, when I came in, was dedicated 19... Sir, if you could just state your name and address on the record, please. Robert Clinton, 4210 Liza Clinton Road, Edgewater, Florida. This building was dedicated four years before I was born, and the year I was born, I was given the designation as Edgewater's prettiest baby. Boy, times have changed. I'm Edgewater's biggest pain in the world. You know where. Back in 2019, the city incorporated down to Clinton Cemetery Road from Volusia County and made the promise to maintain the road. Since then, they have not. I did drive down there again today, and I noticed the City of Edgewater scattered some gravel on the road, made the potholes a little less obvious, and I appreciate that. People on the road, living and dead, also appreciate that. And we decided to follow up and put tar over that gravel to hold it in place. It would be an even better job. Once again, I thank you for putting the gravel down. And that's all I have to say.

Thank you, sir, for your comments. Mr. Manager, if you would like to speak on that after council reports, I'd appreciate it. I think you had an update for us on that issue. Sure. Thank you.

Good evening. Art Slack, 3031 Umbrella Street Drive, Edgewater, Florida, 32141. I'm calling about basically, I do a daily walk, a mile walk on our roads. And what I'm seeing, I can see it get around the obstacles. But I'm seeing more and more of the residents that are up there in age, can barely walk, but the doctors tell them to walk. And I see them fighting the obstacles on the road. And the obstacles are... Certain manholes, the sanitation manholes, you can have almost an inch and a half step from north to south that they have to cross, okay? They're not, most of them that I see are walking down the center of the road. Yes, so you keep your body even balance, okay? I do it myself on my walk. I think we gotta do, because I'm... I've seen a husband and his wife both up there in age, big. He can barely walk, and she's holding him, and they're crossing this disaster, okay? I've seen little old ladies with walkers trying to get around, It's a liability for Edgewater. It's not a big task, and I've seen it done, and we were doing it in the past, grinding them down. You just have to do a little grind so they could walk. They're not tripping over that. And that's really what I got to say. All right? I'm bringing it up, and it's in the minutes now, and if somebody falls... and start suing, you heard it first from me.

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

Mayor, council, manager, this is a formal complaint respectfully requested that the City of Edgewater investigate the conduct of Councilwoman Debbie Dolbo and determine whether her actions warrant disciplinary action including formal censure and any other action authorized by the city charter, Florida law, and the council's rules of decorum. This request is based on what appears to be a continuing pattern of conduct that is inconsistent with the responsibilities of an elected official and the orderly conduct of city council meetings. the concern included introducing matters that were not on the published agenda making accusations against fellow council members city staff and city attorney without supporting evidence presented during the meeting engaging in controversial exchanges confrontational exchanges and using council meetings for personal and political disputes rather than the conduct of city business. These actions also appear inconsistent with the city's adopted rule of decorum and Robert's rule of order. The complaint requests that the city review whether this conduct complies with the requirements of the city charter, including sections 3.09 and 3.11, resolution 2015-R-01, adopting Robert's rule of order. and resolution 2025-r-04 requiring respectful conduct and appropriate language during council meetings one example occurred during july 20th the city council meeting during her council report councilwoman delbo made allegations concerning campaign contributions involving mayor depew councilwoman gillis Those comments were made during a council report rather than on a noticed agenda item, and at that time, no official finding or wrongdoing had been presented during the meeting. The discussion disrupted the orderly conduct of council business and resulted in confrontation amongst members of the council. Accordingly, this complaint all respectfully requests that the city review the meeting video and all relevant records and determine whether Councilwoman Dalvo's conduct complied with city charter, the rules of decorum, and the council's adopted parliamentary procedures. In support of the evidence, the city should determine whether referral to the appropriate ethics and legal authority is warranted and whether formal censure and other disciplinary action Authorized by law is appropriate. This complaint is submitted solely in the interest of preserving public confidence in the integrity professionalism and orderly conduct of the Edgewater City Council written acknowledgement of this complaint and notification of the actions taken are respectfully requested Thank you for your time.

Thank you, sir. Please state your name and address for the record.

I don't think you did when you said that. I might have missed that. I'm sorry. James McGinnis, 2607 Willow Oak Drive, Edgewater. Thank you, sir.

Good evening. Liz Jamison. 635 Airpark Road. I'm here tonight as president of the Southeast Volusia Chamber, oh excuse me, Southeast Volusia Manufacturing and Technology Coalition, excuse me, in partnership with SBA, SBDC, the cities of New Smyrna Beach, Edgewater, Oak Hill, and the Chamber. We are presenting the Disaster Preparedness and Business Continuity webinar. It's gonna be on August the 11th, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. And we are going to be covering the resiliency recovery training to help businesses to maintain operations during and after disasters. It will cover topics including overview of disaster loan programs, eligibility and loan limits and mitigation, economic injury, disaster loans, and more. This is for the residents and our businesses, and just wanted to share it with you, bring it to your attention. And for those in the audience, we do have flyers in the back of the room.

Thank you, ma'am. If you could just leave one with our city clerk so she could get it to us, that would be amazing. Thank you so much. Perhaps we could get it on our newsletter. Thank you, ma'am.

Robert DeVoe, 232 North Bridgewood Avenue. I was here at the last meeting, and we discussed the AI stuff in the water system. My family owned one of the largest citrus rows in the state of Florida. My grandfather used to tell me, you can't create stupidity, but you can correct it. The water quality here is, to me, is bad enough. And I'm more than happy to bring each of you a mason jar. And so we don't need this. I know this is going to be coming up on the meeting.

Yes, sir. If you're speaking of data centers, if you could please speak about it when it is before the council, we'd appreciate it.

OK. Well, the thing about it is, you've got four pages here of different things coming up on this meeting. You do it in the first, you do it at the very end. I mean, I'm 70 years old. Some of these people are younger, so I can remember a lot of crap. But the thing about it is, I think after each one of these motions that you guys are bringing before the people here, the citizens here you need to have a citizen comment to let them voice their opinions and and their and their objections to this it shouldn't be at the very end that's my spiel for tonight and i'll leave you all to peace thank you sir

My name is Dwight Cunningham. I live at 3044 Travis Palm Drive, Edgewater, Florida. This is to address comments made by Councilwoman Milibro during the July 20th council meeting. In her diatribe against the mayor and Councilwoman Gillis, she used appalling terms, and I quote, created the appearance of bias and created the perception of impropriety. All those are quotes in the minutes. This is exactly what she has done herself. She grants stands with political theatrics during political disputes for personal gain in council meetings. She's engaged in verbal hostilities towards other council members here. She made accusations against fellow council members without any appropriate documentation whatsoever to substantiate her claim. In my opinion, Councilwoman Dubrow's performance was both despicable and hypocritical. And it's my opinion, too, that she doesn't deserve to be in political office. Thank you.

Thank you, sir, for your comments.

Sitting by Cabral Street. I'm just curious when the agenda was actually posted. I looked on last week online. I don't believe I looked on Friday. But just curious when it was actually posted, if I could get an answer to that.

At least a week and a half ago.

If you can leave your information, I can look at that and let you know tomorrow.

OK. I just know Sunshine Law requires that it be posted seven days in advance. And I've been just waiting to see when this utility budget is going to come up. And I know that seems like a lot of people didn't know that it was coming up tonight. So I just want to make sure that all the citizens that need to be here to speak about it Knew that it was coming up tonight so that they could be here to speak about it.

But thank you Thank You ma'am for your comments Okay on the council reports councilwoman Dalvin I

I attended the ribbon cutting for Blue Line Auto and wanted to thank them again for investing in Edgewater and being such an important part of our community. I want to thank the staff for all of her work in the backpack drive together, setting it up, setting our students up for success for a great school year. And a big thank you to the sponsors and vendors who showed up every year to support our community. It was a pleasure working with all of our volunteers stuffing backpacks and seeing all the supplies that we donated. It was fabulous. This year we had, as Mr. Mahoney said, we had 30 bicycles and helmets raffled off along with graphic calculators. Organizations and businesses who generously helped make these giveaways possible, I say thank you. And the smiles, we were talking about the smiles on the kids' faces during the backpack giveaway. As they were going through the lines and choosing the perfect backpack for them, it was priceless. And that's what, you know, we understand why we do this every year. It's very fulfilling. And I wanted to bring up e-bikes as a conversation. Last July and August, the topic came up before council, and I wanted to revisit a year later. We as council decided not to move forward with the ordinance after the second reading failed. I've gotten with the police department, and we've had a total of 24 e-bike crashes over the last nine months, no fatalities, some injuries, most were minor. And more details will be coming. And Central Florida had a crash. There's a lot of things going on. I just wanted to revisit it a year from now. And there's other counties who are starting to adjust the way they look at e-bikes. Orange County is adopting and updating their ordinances to regular e-bikes and scooters. Deltona has also made some changes to their ordinance. Let's see where I'm at. I guess I want to see, where we go, I'm sorry. I want to see where we can go forward with that and if council would want to give consensus to have a workshop. As possibly, we don't want to take away our kids' ability to travel, and this is great for them, but to try to keep it safe for their safety and for the pedestrians, possibly, is there something going on with Volusia County School that they're offering classes and possible children who are riding their e-bikes to school, register them with the teachers or with the school, with a parent's signature, knowing that they're going to be riding the e-bikes, make sure they have their helmets on. and take a class, and at the end of the day, at the end of the class, the parent will sign off as they've taken it, and the teacher, whoever may have given it, would sign off on it as well, just to kind of, to help ensure that the kids take the class will understand more about the rules and regulations. Some of these 11, 12, 14-year-old children don't understand, and they'll blow through stoplights, and I've seen almost catastrophes a few times, and I've gotten some calls about it, And I'm not trying to take away the ability for our students to be able to use the e-bikes, but I'd like to make it so it's safer for them to use them. And I wanted to see if we could have a discussion about that. And we don't have to have a workshop. Maybe, Mr. Manager, you could do some research and see what other cities are doing and how we could take and implement a strategy to make sure that our children are going to be safe on the road, especially with school starting next couple weeks.

now would you want that for a presentation at a council meeting that would be great i'll i'll give my opinion real quick um let's just make sure that we're not following the city of deltona because you you brought up about the school and everything they gave the same recommendations and the sheriff got on tv and said we're not going to enforce it Yeah, so let's make sure that we're coming up with a strong ordinance and making sure that it's not going to interfere with the school. Great idea, but maybe we can hold our own classes is what I mean, so it's not overlapping because the sheriff, along with the school board, said they're not going to enforce it. So if we are moving forward with the discussion, if we want an ordinance, great. I think we all voted yes the first reading, then we heard from the community about how negatively they would be impacted. I think we all changed our minds. I don't think it even went and got a motion. i'm more than happy to have the discussion again i think that like you said a year later times has changed and a lot of people are more aware that it is a problem but just make sure that we're not following downtown this no like 18 jerseys yeah yeah teach their own but thank you so i'll give consensus on that that's fine but mr mahoney said a presentation would you rather have a presentation or would you rather have a special meeting where we could discuss a potential ordinance

Well, maybe a presentation first. That way you can give us the information. Then we can kind of digest it and discuss what we like and what we don't like, and then take it from there. That's fine.

I'll get a consensus for that, for a presentation and a council meeting.

Consensus as well.

OK. That's all I have. OK. Councilor Rainbird.

good evening edgewater i just want to follow up on that the backpack event was amazing staff pulled off that was the they keep getting better and better and like councilwoman dalbo says the smiles one kid wanted a baseball there were sharks there were dinosaurs there were superheroes there were princesses mermaids some kid wanted a baseball backpack councilwoman dalbo had this big baseball and had a little a cooler attached to it. This kid did a Michael Jackson dance when he got this thing. I mean, watching these kids, the simplest things makes you realize what you have when you see some kid lit up over a backpack. And to the people that donated them, you've really changed people's lives. And the kids, that thing is great. To all the staff, Jason's crew, everybody, I mean, I'm so proud to be part of the successes that are constantly happening here at Edgewater. Look at the dashboard that you guys just got shown. Not too long ago, we didn't know anything. And as far as the manhole issue, that Mr. Slack was talking about. There was a project going on where they were working on the streets, and they were getting the manholes ready to be paved on. And all of a sudden, the project stopped, which I guess happens. But nobody knew what was ground down, where we left off. We're getting to the point like the project we have with laying new pipe. We know where we're at. We know what street we're on. We had no standard operating procedure before, guys. we're getting standard operating procedure you the community apparently can go in an interface and if you live on a road you know what work is going to be done and on that note i wanted to be proactive and report to you i got a email from the fdot i think we all did there was going to be a closure on 442 right by the train tracks for about four blocks i went and put it on facebook and people were like wow right on the first week of school jesus well we got another email it's not ha it is happening but it's not happening august 8th thank god they're pushing it back But it is going to make us have to go down to 30th. And I live on 30th, so I'm going to just have to leave my house 10 minutes earlier, I guess. But things that have happened to be fixed for a while are getting addressed here. And speaking of websites, I was just looking at some of the things in SB180. And if we do have a storm, I think we're supposed to create websites to address the people. And that's still out there. That's something that we have to do. And you can't just go and buy a domain quickly. And that's something that I guess Mr. Sterba would get on top of, or our web designer. But that is out there. If we have SB180 can still affect us, evacuation center of some sort all real quick we have to have something established that's still there hopefully we don't have any hurricanes I hope we're in that seven-year window like we had ten years ago come on please we're making great I think when it's raining a little hard now I can relax a little bit it's not building up as quickly as it was I also think we've made some drainage improvements and We had 800 open tickets when the transition took place. And we're slowly getting progress made. So like I said, I'm proud of this. What Parks and Rec and Public Works and the water department, accounting, I mean, Ryan hasn't slept in two weeks. I'm just really proud to be part of this. And let's keep it going. And that's all I got to say about that. Oh, one more thing. That chase. with the motorcycles. That was not an e-bike. That was an e-motorcycle. That thing will do like 90 miles an hour. And but so do our motorcycle cops. So just saying. But everybody's like, are you chasing an e-bike? That was no e-bike. And just so you know, electrical motors have a lot of torque. If he would have had enough room to go, 0 to 60, he would have been gone. And the motorcycle cops would have been trying to catch him. little safety. And as far as the e-bikes, we've learned it's been a year. We're watching a lot of things happen. We did nothing. We let the parents try to take their kids and say, hey, I don't know if the parents are not teaching the kids, but there's a lot of kids that are getting in some problems. And if you want some entertainment, I'm almost done. If you want some entertainment, go on YouTube and put e-bikes. There's adults trying to put their e-bike away. They hit the button, boom, put the bike right into their garage door. Now their garage door has a nice one-foot dent in it. So these things ain't no joke. Somebody got their hand caught in. when they hit the button it broke their thumb so these things are not nothing to be taken lightly so i would be into having the state went to do something and it backed off i believe correct yes sir that's all i have thank you sir councilwoman gillis won't be too long

Also attended the blue line ribbon cutting. They do so much for the community, and I'm thankful for them. I also attended a veterans flag ceremony at a local assisted living facility. And that was through the American Legion, and that was beautiful. I attended the back to school bash. Everything was great. As everyone always says, thank you to Jason and the crew. Corey, who did great for one of our first events. Donovan, Jeremy, Doug, Chris, Kevin, all the guys. Sorry for anybody I missed. There's so many people there that put in so much work that day. And just like all the smiling kids, families that just came up and were just so thankful for everything that was handed out. And I know there's people who said they look forward to it. So thank you to everybody for that. I also attended the Edgewater Community Market Night. She's going to be doing the market every other Wednesday. It was a great turnout, and I hope to see that grow. um as far i wanted to touch base on the e-bikes as far as the e-bikes i'd be open to conversation i mean my concern before was we i mean the prior talks were about banning them and i'm not for banning them altogether but if any conversations that we have i'd be willing to have about other possible things to make things safer um i met with quite a few different residents with different issues i want to thank the sewer department that came out and and helped um few people on the shores that were having backups and lots of issues. And then also Art, if you ever want to go for a walk and show me where some of those ones are, I'll start calling them in right next to you. And that's all I really have today. Thank you.

Councilman Thomas.

Nothing at this time.

All right. Our backpack drive is always a great thing. I appreciated being there. All the businesses, Berlin and Denny's. You had a lot of financial advisors. YMCA helped out. Just a lot of great businesses that always come together for the community. I want to thank our Park and Recreation Department. They always do a great job. It was our events coordinator's second event. She did a great job. Flag Day, I went to a flag ceremony at Brilliant's nursing home as well. Very touching to see. I met a lot of veterans who reside there. And I also went to the community garden, or the community event that's at Hawks Park that's going to be every Wednesday. It was an amazing thing, community market. She's a great individual, and she's looking to grow it. The weather was a little funky, but the turnout was still pretty steady. Also was there with the Edgewater Rotary Club. We meet every Thursday right across the street from the former Peggy's restaurant right next to Edgewater Towing in the back of that shopping center. So we'd love to have you Thursday every 6 p.m. We are going to start a lunch Rotary Club at 12 o'clock every Wednesday if we do have enough support. So love to see you at the Rotary Club. I was there at the community market helping Rotary get the word out. Consent agenda. All matters listed in the consent agenda are considered to be routine by the city council, be acted upon by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless discussion is desired by a member of the council, in which case the mayor will remove that item from the consent agenda, and such item will be considered separately. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Make a motion to approve the consent agenda.

Second, Rainbird. Roll call. Nobody wants to second.

Councilwoman Dalbo? Yes. Councilman Rainbird?

Yes.

Mayor DePue? Yes. Councilwoman Gillis? Yes. Councilman Thomas?

Yes.

Item 9, public hearing ordinances and resolutions. Item 9A, resolution number 2026-R-24, modifying the schedule of fees slash rates. Staff report.

Mr. Mayor, you asked me to answer the question about Clinton Cemetery Road. Yes. You want me to address that now, sir?

Yes.

So Clinton Cemetery Road is not a platelet roadway. It's private property. I did have a conversation with Mr. Clinton to see if we can provide maintenance for that roadway. And we've been talking with Lucia County, Mr. Sabatini's law firm, and covering some ground. We should have an answer relatively soon. If it is our responsibility, we're obviously going to service the road and maintain it. It's just taking a little bit of time searching through old records. So I personally had a conversation with Mr. Sabatini's office and Volusia County. And I think it'll be resolved sooner than later. And I think that we'll ultimately maintain the roadways. It's taking time to have the legal authority to do so. We can't expend taxpayer money on private property. So it's just trying to sort through the legal paperwork

Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. Appreciate it. Staff report on item 9A.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Bridget Vassier, Finance Director for City of Edgewater. The resolution before you this evening is just updating the schedule of fees and rates. All of the information that was provided at the June 25th Budget Workshop and Utility Rate Review was incorporated into this update. In addition, the building permit fees have been updated by that department for statutorily required changes. Last update was August 18th, 2025. Staff is recommending motion to approve Resolution 2026 R-24 with an effective date of October 1, 2026.

Thank you. Over to public hearing, citizens comments.

Cindy Black, Umbrella Tree. Is this our utility rates?

Yes, ma'am.

I'm totally against approving this. One, I don't use recycling. I've been paying for this for many decades now. So basically paying for everybody else. They're getting money from, what, 60% of us that don't even use it. So we're basically... Like I said, paying for everybody else to get recycling. The storm water in the past got less than 10 years. You're looking to double that. My water usage rate has doubled because I only use around $1,000. And you've gone from $2.7 to something to now you're going to almost $5. Reclaimed water we were promised. I was one of the original hooked up, but we were promised five dollars permanently and Now you're what around ten dollars. I mean, it's just Most of the stuff is up 50% just in the past what six seven eight years I'm on Social Security My security goes up 2% to 3% a year. And this is just over the past several years, 50% increase. What did I read on Facebook? This is what, 7.69%? But the stormwater is actually 50% increase. Even the 14 something to almost $20, that's 25% in one year. I mean, you take 15 to 20. That's 25%. And I'm on a canal. I gave you 25 feet of my canal used for stormwater. What more do you want? Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am, for your comment.

Hi, there. Candace Gress, 1101 Regent Street, Edgewater. I've got something today that I want to speak, because we're talking about our utilities now. But this is also going to encompass the data centers.

If you could keep the data centers for words in front of us, we'd sure appreciate it.

They're tied together. Because if you're raising our utilities, this is a frustrating loop that we're going through. We've had this conversation about our water bills for quite a bit now. We've discussed it for months and months and months. And now we're back here trying to raise our utility bills again. Well then you turn around and at the end of the agenda today, you've got data centers, which you're trying to raise our water bills or utility bills as it is, and you're not even attending to the fact that the data centers are going to really, really cause an issue with our utilities, our water, our electricity, everything. And having both of them on two opposite ends of your agenda when they technically need to be spoken together. Okay? A couple months ago, I made a statement about how the data centers act. And part of it was the water. The other part was the electricity. And now you're sitting here today having a conversation about raising our utility bills again. It shouldn't be like that. Okay? You raise our utility bills, then keep the data centers out. That's it.

Thank you, ma'am, for your comments. They're appreciated. Okay, council discussion.

We're not talking about putting in any data centers. We're talking about banning data centers.

Please no public participation. If you wish to continue your your citizens comments related to the matter that's before us, you did have a minute and a half left, but please no back and forth at this time. This is about the utility rates. I'm not for a utility rate increase. I understand that we have capital projects, but there's other funding sources. It was poor management in the past that created the situation that we're in because of a high, high dollar public works facility. That should have been negotiated through a development PUD. There are so many things that we could have done in the past, but we are where we are now. I think that there's other funding opportunities. Edgewater already has one of the highest utility bills in the county, more or less, in as long, as well as one of the highest in the state. So we have to keep Edgewater affordable and keep raising our utility rates. There's not one way to do that. I understand we have to improve our quality of life, but there's just no way that we could continue to raise our rates for capital improvement projects without having other sources of funding.

Where will we get the other resources? I understand, I've talked to so many people and it's like, keep it flat, keep it flat. Where would we get other funding? Last year we kept it flat. I believe it was 11 projects that we deferred for two to five years. They were infrastructure projects that didn't get done that will get done at a delayed pace at an increased cost. So now we have those projects that were put back and now if we do not do something, where will we get the money because infrastructure projects need to continue for the quality of life. And we have a lot of capital improvements projects coming in. I just think we have to stay on course and understand that if we have a five-year plan to adjust the utility to where it needs to be in the end of the five years, We can either do it slowly, stair-step it, or we can do it all at once at the end of five years at 30%. I would not want to sit down and look someone in the face and say, I'm so sorry, but now you're paying a 30% more increase And what's that?

They'll pay it anyway.

Well, at the end of the day, they will, but I guess it depends on how you want to look at it. Where will we get the money?

That's a great question, but the point as well is we're going to have over 12,000 homes being built over the next 10 years in the city of Edgewater. That's a lot of impact fees. And only, I believe, a certain amount of percentage was included as impact fees in the study. So there's that as well. Of course, that is an economy question, but Darien Park, I think, are going to have almost nearly 2,000 homes in their first phase. So there's that impact as well. There's other grants and other things that we haven't explored as well. Our public works facility could have been fully funded by a commerce grant. at a state level. I mean, there's so many things that we didn't do in the past. You're right. We're going to keep raising the rates because we had to pay for capital improvements. Where does it come from? But new growth can't pay for old growth. I mean, we're talking about updating our pipes and things like that, which are great. But realistically, we're in the spot we are because we're planning for new growth now. which is not a negative thing. I'm just saying that our residents now can't afford what's already there.

But we're also paying to fix the infrastructure that's been failing since the late 50s. We still have galvanized pipes. There's so much infrastructure that's part of the old that we need to bring up. That's correct. And I don't know that

the impact fees can the impact fees for new development can they be used to fix old old um if it's the same system which the new and the old development is working out off of or intricately connected to then yeah the new money can be sort of put into the old system it just can't be used for something that's only for the old system it doesn't affect the new the new housing it all goes to one water plant ultimately yes but i would also encourage the public to look at the workshop

rates correlate with impact fees. So we have to have those capital projects in the capital plan to also increase our impact fees. Correct. They do correlate. So that is the one issue. This process with the capital projects, staff went through and only placed critical needs projects into the capital improvement plan. So a lot of projects that were there in the past were removed because we did not feel the need to act on those projects within that five-year period.

I think those critical projects should have been addressed before the staff moved forward to build the public works facility. I mean, I don't think that, and that's one of the reasons that the rates got raised before, and I was against that before, and I'll still beat that dead horse. That building, we should have addressed so many other issues, the galvanized pipes, other stormwater problems. There are so many things throughout the city that should have been built and dealt with and addressed before they got a shiny new building.

And that should have been included in the PED of Deering Park, ultimately.

The public works building, that was something that had to have been built by a certain time, correct, so that we can upgrade our plant?

Not the building, no.

Well, where would we have put the office?

There were several other points that we could have discussed if we were on the council. Deering Park discussed having one facility for City Hall underneath one roof. That discussion never moved forward because there was four or five residents that stated that they didn't want their City Hall there. really didn't include the public in a vision session saying, I'm OK with my city hall being out there. There was other opportunities that were discussed that were never followed through with. Yes, you're right. We've got to move the building because we need to ultimately expand our facility. But no, we didn't have to build that building for capital improvements.

And unfortunately, you're right, we weren't there. But we're dealing with what we're dealing with today. So we can sit here all day long and say, because of this, because of this. But we're here sitting here today. We have to own responsibility that's now on our shoulders. And I just feel that I am not comfortable not being able to supplement these capital improvement projects and pushing more to the back burner for another three to five years because, and I guess grants, yes, we can get things like that, but that'll be a drop in the bucket compared to what we need, and the five-year plan that Mr. Mahoney was speaking of, we have to have that in place, and it will cost more in the long run. It's 4.5% if we do it slowly stair-stepping. Next year it'll be I don't have the numbers in front of me. And then by the fifth year, it would be 30%.

The longer you wait, the more expensive the initial buy-in will be.

The residents are going to pay in any way. The residents are going to ultimately pay the increase either way.

If you incrementally increase the rate, so what's in our plan now is 4.5% each year for five years. So it brings you to 22.5% increase. If we forego any increase and go 0, 0, 0, 0, is going to be 30% increase in year five.

So you're going to pay for the increase either way?

It's only going to be a 30% increase if the people who are sitting there at that time approve it. If there's nobody's voting for the increase, then there's no increases. And we look for other funding, and we reassess our budget.

But the five-year plan, if we don't have that in place, Mr. Mahoney, what happens then?

Well, we need to have that in place so we can receive loans. to move forward with the projects. I can tell you staff is doing everything. A lot of these things are issues of the past. These decisions were made prior to me and prior to everybody on this dais. But we are taking a very responsible look at each project. The wastewater treatment plant, the first number that came in was a pretty high number, around $90 million. We're looking to value engineer that with a different company, get another opinion. And I can tell you, I saw that first opinion and I think took off around $20 million to do it differently. So we're evaluating everything. But there are critical needs that were not addressed for many, many years. And here we are. We need to address them now and hopefully do so responsibly to have the least amount of increase for our citizens.

And then there's the big elephant in the room. We might be losing $6 million depending on if the people vote to get rid of the property tax increase. Over two years, I think it's $7 million the second year. It's a little scary that we have these decisions to make not knowing what's happening yet. We were letting these developments be built and grow. We need the tax base. We need the tax base. Well, guess what? That tax base is about to take a big chunk out of it. Whatever we do, we can always taper back if we have to in the future too, right?

If something were to happen, it could always be... We could always forego capital projects, but if they're critical, they're critical. So that needs to be addressed.

No, I mean as far as increases. If there's an increase one year, it doesn't have to be perpetual for the next several years. Next year we could say, well, Bridget can say, well, we have a little bit more money we thought of because the mayor went to Tallahassee and the mayor went to D.C. and bought back another $10, $12 million. So we kind of have that project. Because you can go with a list. We learned from the stormwater master plan, if you have a list of needs that we have, it's better to go say, hey, can you throw me some money? Or you say, hey, we have this project. You could work your magic and hopefully bring some money back to us, but we are going to have a big shortfall come here, depending on how this vote goes.

We could offset utility funds with general funds. But with the tax reform, it does pass. Year one's about a $3.5 million deficit to the city. Year two, another million and a half, so a $5 million total deficit. So that is ground we have to cover, either through cuts or level of service, or really tighten our bootstraps the best we can. But that's all being evaluated at this time. But the city is in good shape, and we are making progress. And all the doom and gloom, we do have a bright future, and we do have some responsible growth coming online that's going to help offset that. So

I just don't foresee. I mean, looking back, I mean, can you tell me the last time that somebody lowered it? I mean, you talk about tapering. I just don't see it.

2023, we lowered it by a small amount.

Yeah.

It's also been very difficult. I think everybody knows the rate of inflation that occurs since COVID. So, you know, inflation was out of control, and, you know, they debased the currency.

Ultimately, what it comes down to, sorry, Mr. Manager, to interrupt you, is We are where we are right now. In the past, the public works facility should have been paid by the growth that's here. We ultimately should have been looking at other future capital improvements, but we are where we are here, and I understand that we're looking at critical projects, but there's other sources of funding and other resources that we could be looking into that we're just now, with your leadership, looking into. I understand that this is a safeguard, but I'm not comfortable with growth coming in not paying for itself and looking at other areas and we're shifting the burden to our utility bill payers, it's not fair. That's my opinion. That's all I'm going to say on it.

So to answer Mr. Ramberg's question further, yes, staff is constantly looking for grant funding and appropriations. So if we weren't able to obtain a grant for, let's say, the wastewater treatment plant, we've already had that $19.1 million grant that we secured, SRF forgivable loan. So if we were able to identify more funding and next year come back before you and say, hey, we found a way to fund this with another $40 million, yes, realistically then you could potentially have a reduction or less of an increase in the utility rate. So of course staff is doing that.

How much dollar-wise is this percentage we're talking about again? I think we covered this.

It's 4.5%. I don't remember the the dollar amount off the memory?

I don't know. Because it's one thing to say, oh, you're increasing this 18%, but if 18% is $3.

Yeah, so I mean, if Ms. Bridget could come back up. I think she had it in her schedule of fees, potentially.

I don't have the exact figure on me, but as we reviewed some of the slides from previous, the average 3,000 gallon utility bill would go up approximately $10 in total. That was the water, sewer, storm water, refuse. All aspects of the water. All aspects of the utility bill. Is this it? So then. Is that it? Yes. Yes. So the $3.90 is the approximate increase for the water and sewer portion of that utility.

Definitely could supplement that.

Mr. Mahoney, didn't you say that also, like Ms. Black stated in the back, she doesn't use recycling. You're in the process of retapering the bill, too. Like, tenants aren't going to be getting a water bill that's going to be going to the homeowner now. You're going to...

So staff suggested exploring the idea of no longer providing recycling. So recycling costs about $8 per month on everyone's utility bill. You guys did the right thing and decided to send it to the ballot in November to see if the citizens want to choose that route and no longer receive that service. So that would offset the increase of this bill, roughly flat, maybe a dollar and two increase. What was the first part of your question? I'm sorry.

Oh, that's where, I was thinking that we had a counter to this, and it was the recycling. If it goes forward where we don't recycle anymore, that'll pretty much absorb like 80% of this cost, I believe, right? Correct. What was it, nine out of, seven out of nine or something like that?

It was around $8 for recycling.

Yeah.

And then we had a conversation that potentially in the future, we could move the stormwater rate to the property tax bill to put that on the burden of the property owner who's getting the benefit from the stormwater fee. And that could help alleviate rent from there. I just.

My grandkids just got my son to start recycling, too. Oh, well.

He can vote now. The water quality has not gotten better. I'm not happy with the water quality. I mean, you're talking about not looking residents in the eye. I'm not going to go into my residents and look them in the eye and say, you've got residents who still have green water, and you want to charge them more for it now. If we've done anything to improve it, I could see people trying to sell it to people. Oh, yes, we did this. Now this is better. This is a better quality. This is what's going on. But it's not. We're trying to charge them more for the same crap, and I'm not OK with it.

Good point.

I guess for something like that, we should have some kind of a conversation with the water department. There'll be an increase to have crystal clear water, because I've met and spoken about it, and it's a whole other discussion, a whole other big capital improvement to do that, to clarify it so it's beautiful and it's clear. There's a cost to that. And I'm sure it's more than the percentage that we're looking at. And I understand. I have people who are upset about their color of their water when they fill their pools and their bathtubs. Not just pools and bathtubs. People fill a cup of water. But you understand what I'm saying. I'm saying.

I'm sure there's areas. This is my tap water. I'm sure there's areas that can use some work. But this came out of my sink. So I just don't want to beat up on all the water in the town.

No, some of this is due to older galvanized pipes that the city is replacing. Part of that is a capital project that is.

And again, the city should have fixed that before they built the building.

Correct. We're stuck over, stuck out.

Unfortunately, this is where we're at and and I don't know what what year that was planned But it's this is we understand it's frustrating.

But here we are trying to find a remedy, but it was approved recently Okay, please please no public participation we've already held citizens comments Okay, did councilman Thomas have any input I Councilman Thomas, any input?

Mr. Thomas, are you there? He's still connected.

Go ahead.

Do you have any input, sir, on 9A?

I do, but it's kind of hard to do it over the phone, so maybe we can talk about it in the future.

Okay. basically we're up against a lot of uncertainties right now and our state legislators have put us in a spot where we really don't know what's coming down the pike also i mean ultimately what it comes down to is it was poor planning in the past and our residents now are getting the hurdle as well okay is there a motion to approve item 9a

Make a motion to approve Resolution 9A, number 2026-R-24, modifying the schedule of fees rates.

Is there a second? I repeat, is there a second? Can Councilman Thomas hear? Mr. Thomas, can you hear?

Yes, I can hear you. What was the question?

They're asking for a second for the... Or is there a second?

They're asking if there's a second. That was a second for the raise of the utility rates? Yes, 9A, sir. Yes, I have to go along with that for our future, yes.

Do you second the motion or do you... Because there was not a second. I'm requesting a second for 9A or we will move on with the discussion.

Or you can move to deny it.

I'm going to make a motion to deny the resolution.

I think the vice mayor made the motion, so I cannot pass the gavel to the vice mayor. I believe so, Mr. Attorney, correct?

Oh, can you do it?

Pass the gavel and make a second. Yes, you can. I pass the gavel and make a second for denial. Roll call.

Councilwoman Dalbo? No. Councilman Rainberg?

No.

Mayor DePue?

Yes.

Councilwoman Gillis? Yes. Councilman Thomas? For denial.

For denial. okay i'm going to ask this one more time is there a there was a motion on the floor is there a second to approve item 9a i'll say i thought i did that mr mayor it's seconded by mr rainbird roll call councilwoman dalbo yes councilman rainbird yes mayor depew no councilwoman gillis heck no councilman thomas

I'm confused. Is it for the utility rate?

This is a motion to approve the utility rate adjustment. Yes, sir. A motion to approve.

Yes.

OK. Item 9B. Resolution number 2026-R-28, August amended budget for the fiscal year 2025 to 2026. Staff report. Good afternoon, Mayor.

Good evening. Sorry about that, Mayor and Council. Yeah, I'm bringing up Resolution 2026-R-28, which is a budget amendment for some grants and some insurance funding. So it's kind of external funding that the city received. The total for general fund is $6,413,459. which consists of twenty thousand dollars insurance proceeds repairs done to the five one of our fire stations another $37,303 for a grant that the city received for firefighter safety gear. And then we also have a general fund because we have capital projects funds. We have to transfer money out of general fund over to capital projects. The city has received grants for the, as you guys already approved part of this related to this here consent agenda, the 442 to Dale Street. sun trail project the city has received state funding for that of approximately six million three hundred fifty six thousand one hundred fifty six dollars and when you total those three items together you get six million four hundred thirteen thousand four fifty nine which would be your increase in general fund for grant insurance proceeds and the expenditures related and then we also had to increase that same the 331, the project development fund for that $6,356,156 for the revenue, the transfer over to pay for it, and the expenditures that the Florida Sun Trail program funded the city.

Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. We'll open it for citizens' comments and then the council comments.

Cindy Black, Umbrella Tree. Part of the Sun Trail program was supposed to do a bridge there at Whistle Stop Park where the kids had to cross over to the Whistle Park store or before the railroad track to the Whistle Stop store right there where there's a big ditch. And I'm just wondering where the progress is of that. I mean, nobody needs to contact me. But there used to be a bridge there. This is probably when you were a very young kid, Diesel?

No, it was until 2020.

You just don't remember.

I remember it very well. It was there until around 2020. OK.

But I had talked to somebody with the city about that. And that was supposed to be part of the Sun Trail project, to build the bridge back there, where the kids don't have to cross the road so that they can get to the other side. And I'm just hoping that in this project that they're talking about, that it's coming soon. Because when you're driving your car, you can't see these kids at night. They're just crossing back and forth in the middle of the road. And it's very dangerous, even with They're on their e-bikes. And I would love to see that come soon. Or if we can fix some way, we can stop them now just from crossing. Because it's jet black there. Maybe we can get some lights in in the meantime. Because these LED lights, you can't see in that area, especially on the snorch side. Like I said, it's just very dangerous. Anyway, thank you. I just wanted to bring that up.

Thank you, Ms. Black. We appreciate it. Great suggestion. I do remember the bridge.

I know you guys are sick of hearing me. Robert DeVoe, 232 North Bridgewood Avenue. I appreciate this council. So I do not appreciate what I'm hearing tonight. Mr. Thomas, I don't know if you can hear me. Stuff, but I really do not I don't think anything that should be approved tonight or not approved tonight Should go through because mr. Thomas I'm sorry. It's a joke Listen to it because he doesn't know exactly what he's voting on in some respects And he wants to reply to me more than welcome to It's up, but I don't think you hear me now And I don't think it's right for us citizens for y'all to vote on things and stuff, because a couple of them just went through yes, no, no, yes, and stuff. He didn't know what he was. In my thought, I'm here to agree to disagree and stuff, not to make fun of anybody or anything else. But I don't think it's right for y'all to pass up stuff for us as citizens, tax rates or anything else. without him being here.

Please no public participation at this time. Thank you, sir. We appreciate your comments. Okay, back to Council Commons. Is there a motion to approve?

Valid point.

Make a motion to approve resolution. Make a motion to approve resolution number 2026-R-28, August amendment budget for fiscal year 2025-2026.

Is there a second? Is there a second to resolution 9B? There is no second to item 9B. Seeing no second, item 9C. Second reading, ordinance number 2026-0-07, request for annexation of parcel IDs. I will ask one more time if there is a second to item 9B, resolution number 2026-R-228, August amended budget for fiscal year 2025 to 2026 to include grants, pretty much as while we're amending.

Mr. Sabatini, is, um, I kind of agree with what the last gentleman said.

It's a policy question whether you want to allow a remote vote. It's not a legal, it's not legally insufficient.

And we would still have a quorum without Mr. Thomas present as well.

Yeah, if he was the quorum breaker, then it would become a legal issue. But as a policy matter, if any of you want to make it where you're not voting to allow one of you to remote, it's up to you guys as a council. It's not a legal, not a major legal issue.

So there's an employee with Mr. Thomas at his home, helping him with the mute button on the phone. I was told they were going to have the computer up at the meeting, and there's a slight delay when you watch online.

So I'm going to ask one more time of, is there, please no public participation at this time.

Please. Can we speak, Mayor and Council, I hate to interrupt, can we speak about the revocations if we do not pass the amendment?

Correct, sure. I'm going to ask one more time if there is a second after this. If not, we will continue with the agenda as posted.

Can I speak?

Absolutely. Okay.

Mayor and council, the item before you, 2026R-28, is a budget amendment for our current fiscal year. The items included on that budget amendment, there are three items in total, including an additional transfer. All of these are actually external funded projects. So we have $20,000 for the fire station funded by insurance proceeds. We have PPE for the fire department or gear that they need for 37,303. And again, that is a grant-funded opportunity. We have a Sun Trail project for 6.3 million, which is funded by the state. So all of the dollars before you amending our current fiscal year to the total of $12,769,615. amends the current fiscal year, and again, all grant and insurance proceeds funded.

Thank you. We've held.

I'll second it.

Second Rainbird. Or you never mind.

Seconded by Councilwoman Gillis. Roll call, please.

Thank you for clarifying that.

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

Yeah.

On 9C, second reading ordinance number 2026-0-07, request for annexation of partial IDs 8412-02-08-001, 8412-02-08-0040, and 8412-02-08-0090 from Volusia County into... to the city of edgewater generally located west of starboard avenue and east of san remo subdivision staff report mayor council's second reading seeking a motion to approve ordinance 2026007 thank you citizens comments council comments

As a resident up against this project, I think this is the way we should be doing it for everybody here. Make sure it's minimal impact. We're consulted first. Ryan gave us a lot of answers. The HOA was here last time. Ryan painted the truth. And that's all we, we're going to get no surprises. Thank you. Moving forward.

It is small scale. It's a self-storage facility. But they're selling each parcel. So it's small scale. And the city said that Mr. Solstice said that's one of the best scenarios. Is there a motion to approve?

Make a motion to approve second reading, ordinance number 2026-0-07. Back up. Roll call.

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

Yes.

Item 9d second reading orders number 2026-0-08 request for small scale comprehensive plan amendment for future land use map parcel IDs 8 4 12 slash 0 8 slash 0 0 10 8 4 12 slash 0 2 slash 0 8 slash 0 0 4 0 and 8 4 12 slash 0 2 slash 0 8 slash 0 0 9 0 from volusia county commercial and urban low intensity to the city of edgewater commercial staff report

Once again, second reading. Seek the motion to approve.

Thank you. Open to public hearing. Citizens' comments. Council comments. This, again, is a low-impact development. And our city planner said that this is one of the best things that could potentially go there. Is there a motion to approve?

Make a motion to approve second reading, ordinance number 2026-0-08. Is there a second? Second.

Roll call.

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

Yes.

I'm not the second reading orders that are 2026 as your dash and I request a rezoning of 2.95 acres. He had the 8, 4, 12, 5, 0, 2, 5, 0, 8, 5, 0, 0, 10, 8, 4, 12, 5, 0, 2, 5, 0, 8, 5, 0, 0 four zero and eight four twelve slash zero two slash zero eight slash zero zero nine zero generally located west of starboard avenue and east of san remo subdivisions from volusia county commercial b4 volusia county urban low intensity r3 the city of edgewater highway commercial b3 staff report uh once again second reading uh to get a motion to approve thank you citizens comments council comments is there a motion to approve

Make a motion to approve second reading, ordinance number 2026-0-09. Second, Rainbird.

Roll call.

Councilwoman Dalbo? Yes. Councilman Rainbird?

Yes.

Mayor DePue? Yes. Councilwoman Gillis? Yes. Councilman Thomas? Yes.

Item 9F, second reading, Ordinance Number 2026-0-10, request for small-scale comprehensive plan amendment for 1711, 1715, and 1717 Edgewater Drive for commercial to medium-density residential. Staff report.

Second reading. Seek a motion to approve.

I was open to public hearing. Citizens' comments?

We don't have a map then? what's the location of this that you can put up and that's right behind original avenue what is that right behind that's auto zone or advanced auto parks okay all right thank you thank you sir

I was totally against denying or approving this a year ago. I went by and met with the neighbors. It just totally makes sense. I'm kind of surprised that that was commercial to begin with. I'm not for rezoning our commercial land, but it just makes sense.

And as stated last meeting, it's not going to affect the traffic flow. They're going to be going out the far side.

There are several, several neighbors that spoke in support. Yeah.

I agree, and I agree with not changing commercial to residential. In this case, it makes sense. It's a residential neighborhood, and no one there would want anything but another home or a duplex there, so I agree.

Is there a motion to approve?

Make a motion to approve. Second reading, ordinance number 2026-0-10. I don't think your microphone was on.

Second, Rainburg. Okay, roll call.

Councilwoman Dalbo? Yes. Councilman Rainbird?

Yes.

Mayor Depew? Yes. Councilwoman Gillis? Yes. Councilman Thomas?

Yes.

Item 9G, second reading, Ordinance Number 2026-0-11, request for approval of rezoning from B3 Highway Commercial to our four single-family residential for 1711, 1715, and 1717 Edgewater Drive. Staff report.

Second reading. Motion to approve.

Open a public hearing, citizens comments. Council comments. Is there a motion to approve?

Make a motion to approve second reading, ordinance number 2026-0-11.

Second, Rain Bird. Roll call.

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

Under 9H, second reading, Ordinance Number 2026-0-18, Proposed Charter Ballot Language. Staff report.

Second reading, no additional information by staff and defer to the council.

Thank you. Open a public hearing. Citizens' comments. Council comments.

I don't know.

You have.

I just want to double check on the updated form to make sure that the community engagement is on there.

There's several things that I would have liked to have seen on here, but I'm glad we're moving forward with ordinances on some of those things. They are on this posted agenda.

Can we see the one about the data center?

Sir, I think that that is on our agenda at a later time to discuss that.

Okay.

I believe so.

It's in this one as well as a valid language for the charter amendment.

I just wanted to point out that I think it was News 6 just did a story on this. The cameras were here. And I don't think, like I said, I don't think we have anywhere to put a data center, nor do we want one here. This is not the right place for it. The country needs them, not here. But what they pointed out in that news story was he was walking down a small data center that was the size of maybe a room. And he says this could stop Edgewater from even buying more servers and switches and putting them in like a closet or something. I mean, is it that strict, the wording? Is this going to stop Mr. Sterber from building what we need to build?

No, I would probably argue that they're exaggerating. the limitations of language, we have a definition here. It says a data center is a group of facilities primarily designed. That's not like a secondary feature. It's got to be the primary design is only to house computer servers, network equipment, related infrastructure for data storage, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency mining, allocation services, or similar digital activities. So if its primary purpose isn't that exact thing, then it would, you know.

So we can grow.

OK. Yeah. This really does target the big ones that are coming in. That's their whole focus, their economic models about the growth of data.

So the news is wrong. Thank you.

I think they're getting clicks out of it.

Is there a motion to approve, including data centers as written for proposed ballot?

I make a motion to approve second reading of ordinance number 2026-0-18 proposed charter ballot language.

Second, Rainbird.

Roll call.

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

Yes.

Item 9A, second reading, ordinance number 2026-0-19, proposed ballot language, staff report.

Second reading, no additional information from staff.

Open to public hearing, citizens' comments.

Linda Mosher, 319 Leaning Oak Drive. Good evening, everyone. In the previous round, I know I can't speak to that, but I wanted to thank you for including that change into the charter for the community engagement. So I appreciate you hearing me out and putting that forward. For this, on the ballot language on here, I think we didn't have it last time. So the second reading is actually the first reading, is it not? Of the language itself. Because I thought it was just kind of put in last time.

In any case. This is the second reading.

I know that you brought it up last time.

No, there was a full ordinance at the last meeting as well. We just didn't know. Then I'm wrong.

I just asked for clarification on the definition.

Happy to admit being wrong. No problem. But I did want to say I'm a recycle user. And I like that. And I would like to at least suggest that this language be a little more neutral in the way that it's presented. So this could read without any mention of the budget impact, to simply ask the neighbors do they want their recycling or not. And just to also mention that looking at those rates and fees, the $8 charge is the only one that did remain flat. That was the only one that did not go up. And I would be happy to consider, and I now don't stream over there. But I know that everybody works really hard. I only get one trash pickup a week. I'd be happy to trade my second trash pickup for a recycling because I know that for me, I'm not going to be able to get that service. I'm not going to be able to replace that service. I'm not going to be able to get anybody to come and take my recycling for $8 a month. This isn't going to happen. And the fact that it is half and half, does seem like it should be a little more equally weighted. I know it needs to be done. I know you're looking for every possible way to save money. But this kind of presumes, hey, we're going to do it. So you can vote if you want to, but this is kind of a done deal. It reads very heavily weighted to work. We're going to do it. A discontinuation of municipal recycling. That's what you're asking, rather than do you want it or not. So that's just my thought just about the way it reads. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you.

Appreciate your comments. Thank you.

Cindy Black, Umbrella Tree. Like I said, there's 60% of us that don't use it don't need to pay for those that do use it. But before we had recycling, we had big dumpsters where people could take their actual recycling. Maybe we could put those dumpsters back in a place where those people that want a place to take their stuff, they could take it to be great for people who had a bag of cardboard wanting to get rid of it. And then they're having to keep it in their homes for a week before recycling day came around. you know, and I've seen people like, you know, we got all these boxes that we just moved here, you know, anybody want to, you know, trying to get rid of them because they don't want to wait for somebody, you know, wait for recycling to come around. Just a thought. We might have a few places like down that road off of 442 up by the overpass. Just a thought. I know we used to have it right there at the Indian River School where they had two big dumpsters out, but I know that's not a good place now just because we have so much traffic there. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am, for your comments. I appreciate them. Council comments. Is there a motion to approve?

Make a motion to approve the second reading, ordinance number 2026-0-19.

Second, Rainbird. Roll call.

Councilwoman Dalbo? Yes. Councilman Rainbird?

Yes.

Mayor DePue?

Yes.

Councilwoman Gillis? Yes. Councilman Thomas?

Yes.

As far as Ms. Blyth's comment, my aunt lives in Owensville, Kentucky. They have a small recycling center that is fully self-independent. They do have dumpster centers to where they can go and dump recycling. So if this passes, it's in the voters' hands. Well, maybe we could revisit that at a date to be served.

They used to have them in front of Edgewater Public as well.

And I was telling Mr. Mahoney the other day that I was up in St. Augustine, and they have a dumpster just for cans. And I'm waiting for a call back. I reached out to say, do they pay the city for that aluminum that's in there? Because aluminum is a commodity. I think cardboard is, too. Plastic, plastic. But I'll tell you what, recycling is going to take up a lot more space. of space if we don't do it. I do understand. I think we would be disingenuous to the people if we didn't tell them that it was saving money on the bill. Because otherwise, if I was just asked, do you want to get rid of recycling or not? I'd be like, no. I can't look my granddaughter in the eye and say, I'm going to throw this plastic in the garbage. So I think the people should know that there is an upside. I'm pro-recycling, believe me. But it's pretty inevitable that if it can save the city a lot of money and save these people. Folks, I just voted to raise the bill. It was very uncomfortable. And I promise you that moving forward, I'm going to be as fiscally as this is hard. But there's things that we have to do. But moving forward, I'm hoping things get better. It's kind of tough to give up recycling, but if it's going to save us money, You need to know that a lot.

The people will vote on it. I agree. Item 9J, first reading ordinance number 2026-0-14, request for annexation of parcel IDs 743004-12-0070 from Volusia County and the City of Edgewater. Staff report.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The request before you is to annex a parcel that's located just east of Tatum Boulevard. The Parcel is within the City of Edgewater's interlocal service boundary agreement. It's also contiguous to city boundary. City staff are recommending approval. The application is to allow for an access easement for the construction of a driveway to two 5-acre tracks. The applicant, as you can see in this aerial photo here, the parcel to the south was originally what the applicant was going to bring in the road on but volusia county traffic wants them to align that entrance with edgewater canal road and so the applicant is seeking to annex property in yellow on the screen thank you sir open a public hearing citizens comments

Robert Clinton, 4210 Liza Clinton Road. And I want to say two quick things before I leave. I'm hoping lawyers are looking this over real close so I don't have to come back in six years and complain that it's still on your desk. And the second thing I want to mention, why is there a handicap ramp over here and not one over here?

That goes to the black wall.

That's all I have.

Thank you, sir. Okay, council comments. I'm okay with the annexation so that it would be in our control. Because right now that's in the county, correct?

Correct.

Right now this is an annexation request so that property in yellow is in unincorporated Volusia County and the request is to bring it into the city of Edgewell.

Is there a motion to approve just the annexation at this time?

Make a motion to approve ordinance number 2026-0-14.

Second, Rainberg. Roll call.

Councilwoman Dalbo? Yes. Councilman Rainberg? Yes. Mayor DePue? Yes. Councilwoman Gillis? No. Councilman Thomas?

Yes.

Under 9K, first reading, Orders No. 2026-0-15, request for a small-scale comprehensive plan map amendment for a parcel located on the east side of Taton Boulevard, south of Josephine Street, from County Urban Low Intensity in the City of Edgewater, Low Density Residential, with controversial overlay. Partial ID No. 7430-04-12-0070. Staff Report.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. The request before you is concurrent with the annexation and there'll be a rezoning after this. The applicant is requesting to change the future land use designation from county, urban, low intensity, the city of Edgewater, low density, residential with the conservation overlay as you can see the subject properties. to the east that are in the city have that designation again the purpose of this parcel and this annexation and future land use designation is to allow for a road access to two five acre lots thank you sir citizens comments council comments i just spoke to

quite a few residents over that way that were not happy with that project and have concerns about flooding and things moving forward with it, and I'm just not comfortable with it.

Mr. Solsis, what are they permitted to build right now without any kind of changes?

Uh, well, in the county, you can still build on that law. You can build a single family home. Part of this application includes part of the minor subdivision. Is a dedication of a, I guess not a dedication, but a granting of a 50 foot Eastman over the boarding canal there along the entire property boundary. And later on a few items down, you'll see. Uh, 9, 0, which is another 50 foot stormwater easement that staff have procured from Daytona State College. Um, so one of these, one of the things is part of this minor. Free lot subdivision is that city staff have, um. extracted a 1.3 acre easement for stormwater so that in the future the city could come in and expand the Cabordia Canal 20 to 25 feet. So I think it's a pretty good exchange for something that really is just road access for three, five acre lots. And so by right, that future land use will last four units per acre. The applicant has just about 15 acres. So he could potentially develop a much more dense product.

The original plan was like 13 or 15, wasn't it?

Yeah, 17 lots. 17. Was the original subdivision. And it's been reduced down now to three.

Now, is he granted that in the county or the city? He could come get a building permit tomorrow for 13 lots?

That would be in the city because that property is in the city.

It is now.

No, no, it is already a area in the weird mustard color is that's in the city.

So let me get this straight, for the record, for residents on that street, because I know that there's been so many much-blooding concerns with development in that area. I've seen it firsthand. It went with Chair Brower. Tomorrow, they could build how many units from the city of Edgewater, permitted, granted, ready to go?

Well, based on the future land use designation, I mean, they could probably build about 60 units based on the future land use. Given the wetlands on site and other features, it'd likely probably come in about what was originally permitted, which was 17 lots.

17 lots, though, is almost the final answer compared to three.

And he's going down to three.

Correct. Compared to three. Okay. Are there any further council comments?

I think of the two choices that we had there, I mean, I think it's fortunate that it's only going to be three lots and not 16, which will be less traffic on the road. That's a plus.

Less concrete. And we're getting 1.3 acres so we can maintain or widen that canal in the future if we need to.

That's huge.

Yes, correct. The intent here is to have that easement over this northern piece here. And then later on item O, city staff have procured another 50-foot easement along Daytona State's campus. And we're going to be reaching out to the Onyx Corporation in Parktown. That way, that entire segment of the Gabori could have the potential of being expanded in the future.

Nice. Good work.

and are there any further comments that's the kind of stuff we need to pay attention to how will it affect the other houses that are over there that if you're talking about expanding to boarding what about the houses that are backing up to it on palmetto in that area in palmetto well we have the g2g11 canal project going on right now which is that 16 million project and it's estimated to reduce flooding pretty substantially in that area you're talking about a

This is just giving us a stormwater easement that in the future that could be a possibility from having that easement. So we don't know what the project will look like.

We won't be trespassing. It's ours.

Correct. We have the opportunity in the future to utilize that property for stormwater, which is important.

I think it's also important too, this is a canal that borders both the City of Edgewater and the City of New Smyrna Beach and it's the county who is really the only one who has legal access to it right now. So this is giving us legal access to if something was to happen in that canal, we can get in there legally.

And New Smyrna be able to help us if they wished? Does it benefit them too?

Correct.

Has it been ran through our stormwater master plan model?

Not this segment of it, but I did have Mr. Crabill run another segment of it, and it did show some benefit.

It access compensating storage, so it just provides more capacity.

It doesn't necessarily help with conveyance based on his initial modeling, but any capacity, any added capacity is a benefit.

Okay, thank you. Is there a motion to approve?

Make a motion to approve ordinance number 2026-0-15.

Second. Rainbird. Roll call.

Councilwoman Dalbo? Yes. Councilman Rainbird? Yes. Mayor DePue? No. Councilwoman Gillis? No. Councilman Thomas?

Yes.

On a non-odd, first reading, ordinance number 2026-0-16, request for rezoning from Volusia County R-3A residential to R2 low density residential with controversial overlay for partial ID 7430-0412-0070. Staff report.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Again, this is concurrent with the first two items that came before you. This is a rezoning from county to city since we made that annexation application here. City staff are recommending approval. And again, this is for an access road.

Thank you, sir. Open a public hearing. Citizens comments.

Robert DeVoe, 232 North Richmond Avenue. I got a question for him. Is all this rezoning and to go to be able to build houses or anything else? I know you all have new guidelines. It has to be built so far up and everything else. What is the floodplain to the people behind sites or anything else? What impact does that have to them? to bring these things to another one from 16 houses or whatever it was down to three houses and stuff like that but when you have to build the new rules and regulations and guidelines build higher water doesn't run uphill so what kind of impact does that have to all the neighbors surrounding that

Well, this is your time to address the council. We're not supposed to go back and forth. But what I can tell you is now with our stormwater master plan, it tells you exactly what level storm the area is going to look like. So they're providing the ditches, what he was saying? It provides ditches, retention areas, wetlands, what homes will look like during a 100-year storm plan. 200 year storm plan it really does exactly what you're asking as our new storm water master plan measurement model okay so any height that they have to build on and stuff like that would not impact i'm just asking straightforward it's not going to impact people I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying that there's a model that is not supposed to be going back and forth right now. It's your time to address the council. But if you have any other questions, I'm sure this will be answered. I understand that, but I'm not supposed to go back and forth. What I'm telling you is that there's a model that does exactly that, that now has homes on it, that we have a computer-based model that says how the area is affected. Is a concrete structure going to potentially affect surrounding homes? It always can, if that's your question.

So who's responsible for that?

It shows the model, yes. But any concrete anywhere we've already established can provide negative effects of flooding. Yes, sir. Okay, back to council comments.

Well, I think you asked a good question right in the beginning. What is he allowed to do now? And he's allowed to do what he's allowed to do by us controlling, like you said, we'll be able to control it when we moved it into Edgewater. Brian's getting a knack of negotiating with these people to give the best outcome for the people. And somebody's not going to tell me that three houses are going to make it worse than 17. He's going to be legally allowed to do something. Do I want to vote no for everything? Of course I do. Do I want this city to get sued every decision we have to make? Of course I don't. And with the Gabority Canal, the 1.3-acre strip. And then Daytona State's going to put a little. And that's for future.

CHRIS JERRAM, Yeah, that's item O, sir. Daytona State's going to be on the same agenda.

It's just what they're allowed to do and what we'd rather have them cooperate with us and do. That's our choices. Correct?

I think it's also important. This is a three lot subdivision. So this is one single family home on five acres. So this isn't like, to Mr. DeVoe's point, his concern was about fill and the perception that fill causes flooding. These properties, they're not going to fill five acres to build a house on.

It could be a million dollars.

Yeah. So these likely will be either a filled pad for 2,000 square feet, or they'll build on a stem wall. But no one's going to fill five acres on a rural lot. It's just prohibitively expensive.

Thank you, sir. Is there a motion to approve or any further council discussion? Is there a motion to approve?

What number is it?

Second, Rain Bird.

Roll call.

Councilwoman Dalvo? Yes. Councilman Rain Bird?

Yes.

Mayor DePue? No. Councilman McGillis? No. Councilman Thomas?

Yeah, I'm not him. First reading orders number 2026 dash 0 dash 20 supermajority Council vote prior to the sale, transfer or conveyance of the City Hall property staff report.

Council, you gave consensus at the July 20 and 26 meeting for staff to bring forth an ordinance requiring a supermajority vote prior to the sale, transfer or conveyance of the City Hall property and staff. Deferred to City Council.

Thank you, sir. Open a public hearing, citizens' comments.

Okay, council comments.

Very glad that we're doing this. We'd love to have the residents to vote, but I'm glad that there's going to be an ordinance.

I would like to make a change to it between readings. I would like to bring up to council for consensus instead of a super majority council vote for us to have a unanimous vote.

That is just fine with me.

I think if that is something that people are willing to do, that everybody needs to be willing to hang their hat on. Which I never would.

Can we pull that off in time?

It could be changed between the lanes.

Yeah, it can be changed.

Okay. I'm fine with that.

Pass the gavel and make a motion to approve item M9M, first reading ordinance number 2026 slash 0-20, a unanimous vote, change for supermajority vote, prior to the sale, transfer, or conveyance of the City Hall property. Is there a second?

Second, Rain Bird.

Roll call.

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

Yes.

Item 9N, first reading ordinance number 2026-021, temporary moratorium on the acceptance, processing, review, approval, and issuance of development orders, development permits, building permits, and related land use approval for data centers, hyperscale data centers, artificial intelligence data centers, cryptocurrency mining facilities, and other high-end energy data processing facilities. So that may take a little bit of ease off your concern.

That's a definition.

Staff report.

Once again, Mayor and Council, you gave consensus at the July 20th and 26th meeting for staff to bring forward an ordinance imposing the temporary moratorium. I'll defer to Mr. Sabatini for any legal questions regarding this topic.

Thank you, sir. Open a public hearing. Citizens' comments.

I saw where Elon Musk has built a number of AI power centers, which is totally different than the data centers, where it's basically electrical plants for data centers out in Texas. They're also noisy, but they also have these big stacks that... produce acid rain, and our current federal administration has now banned any government, city, county, from doing anything from banning him from building these or any other company that wants to build these. They're pretty massive. And they're stand-alone. They don't provide any power to cities or counties or anyone else. It's just mainly his own thing or whatever company that wants to build them. And they don't need anything for the cities to approve. He can basically do these with any say-so from you or anybody else. But it's something you may want to look into. You know, people basically got these 20 hydrogen producing stacks in their backyard, and they're huge. But it's the future. Come to Florida. I don't know if there are any existing in Florida yet, but they're being built all over Texas. But just thought I'd bring that to your attention. Thank you.

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

candace gress 1101 regent street edgewater um uh earlier we were speaking about the water of this the utilities and then of course a couple months ago i brought to you guys about the data centers and we need to make sure that we are understanding before we um i'm against the data center um frank burdock you are too we need to make sure that everyone understands that the lip service that they give whenever they're trying to push these data centers, we need to make sure that people understand what the environmental impact on the data centers are. They will lie to you and tell you it's bringing jobs. It'll bring jobs long enough to build the building. That's about as far as it's gonna go, okay? After that, it takes, even in these multi-million or huge data centers, by the time it's over and done with, it takes maybe 50 employees. that's all it takes to run it but our utility bills will go up our water bills our electric bills everything else it destroys it destroys the environment okay so make sure before you know like I said if we're going to put it in the Charter amendment or whatever as far as data centers make sure that we know and make sure that we are very well aware of what the actual downside of these data centers are. I understand they want these data centers, it's for AI, it's for this, it's for that, you know, all these flock cameras that are going around, you know, but like I said, it's not what they're giving lip service about. So as far as I'm concerned, and I'm sure plenty of people in Edgewater, I mean, we're already having issues with water, we're already having issues with flooding, we're already having issues, you know, we can't afford a footprint that big. We can't afford any more damage to our water system. We can't afford any more damage to our environment. That's where I feel.

Thank you.

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

Here I go again. Robert DeVoe, 232 North Bridgewood Avenue. This AI Center, and I stood up here a couple weeks ago, explained to you guys, I used to drive over the road and I used to just deliver right by some of those centers. And if you want to know what the impact it is to a complex or housing development behind there, I told you guys before, take an AC unit from on top of Walmart and have it put in your backyard and run it. It's not quiet. The water, for what they use, if I was to open up a coffee shop here in the city of Edgewater, would the city give me the coffee pots and the coolers and the freezers to run my business? The city's going to give them a tax break. I think if I was to run a small business there, I should demand a tax break. So like I said, it's for the amount of people like she was saying that may employ and stuff I don't think let them produce their own water Let them produce their own waste We have no infrastructure problems and stuff like that that doesn't produce their own pipes to go out to canal or wherever to refine the water, but it's not up to us as taxpayers here.

Please no public participation other than citizens' comments.

I've been here for years to fund some of these big corporations. I'm more than happy for all these AI plants to go out to these military bases, out to Salt Lake City, Utah, out to these deserts. They've got a bunch of property out there. They don't have to be in somebody's backyard. And it's I can't speak enough on this. Like I said, the only stupid question is one someone doesn't ask. And if people don't come up here, you know, I've dealt with all these guys personally, and I love it. I love the interaction I've had with you guys. Instead of you guys have helped me out. But the citizens got to speak on this. And you guys have got to listen. Because like I said, unless you want to live behind one and listen to that crap 24-7, Thank you. More power to you.

Thank you, sir, for your comments. They're appreciated.

Linda Mosher, 319 Leading Oak Drive. I just wanted to commend you for being ahead of the curve on this, taking this two-prong approach with the charter amendment, putting it in front of the voters. as well as doing the moratorium. I think Edgewater has put forth some good feelings out in the community and certainly made its name in the state for trying to be proactive in things that are a little more far-reaching than you often get to this level. So the use of NDAs is also a concern that there could be contracts being put together with the inability for anyone to know so you guys again staying ahead of it is important it's important to the city and it's important to the residents so hang in there thank you ma'am for your comments council comments great proactive step it is but i just want to let you guys know

it would take Elon Musk money to build a place here. I don't think there's any place in Florida that can deliver the power needed for one of these. That's why they're going out in Texas. You're talking gigajoules. And there are a couple places where data centers, like I said last week, there are a couple places where data centers made the power there first and some of the surrounding areas did get power but that's and that was a break to the people that was the data center paying for that power but there's nowhere in for we don't have the room thank god we don't have the room but we don't have the infrastructure to even think of putting a data center here we have that on our side too so It wouldn't be cost feasible to do it here. It would be cost feasible to do it out in Utah or something. But there's no power grid to even think of doing it here. But we're going to stand in the way of it too. But it's not feasible for Florida.

Please, no public discussion at this time. You've already had your citizens' comments.

I'm also happy that we're moving forward with this temporary moratorium until after the voters have their say. I think it's a great positive step moving forward for us.

I would like to, bearing on with my word changes again, I had picked the attorney's brain earlier about this because to see if we could move forward. I would like to see if we could get consensus to change it from a temporary moratorium to a permanent moratorium. which would essentially ban them. And then, that's the same thing we did with Toilet to Tap. We put Toilet to Tap as an ordinance and it banned Toilet to Tap and then we put it in the charter. The purpose of the charter is to let the people vote but it's also so three assholes in 10 years can't overturn something. That's good for the people.

Yeah, I don't have a problem with that. I don't want an AI data center here in our community ever. That's fine. But we also send it to the charter, which does take resources and time for the people to vote. But yes, I'm fine with that.

But we did the same thing with toilet to tap though.

Okay, is there a motion to approve the language change?

Make a motion to approve. Mr. Sabatini, are there any legal ramifications?

No. You can always amend these ordinances or resolutions as long as it's not a substantial change, which is defined by totally changing the purpose. So if you totally change the purpose, then you can't. But if it's just a modification, it's fine. Good question. Thanks.

All in favor? I'll make a motion to approve first reading ordinance number 2026-0-21, a permanent moratorium on the acceptance, processing, review, approval, and issuance of development orders, development permits, and related land use approvals for data centers, hyperscale data centers, artificial intelligence data centers, cryptocurrency mining facilities, and other high energy data processing facilities.

Second.

Roll call.

Councilwoman Dalbo? Yes. Councilman Rainbird?

Yes.

Mayor DePue? Yeah. Councilwoman Gillis? Yes. Councilman Thomas?

I do not want data centers in Hedge Park.

Is that a yes?

That counts as a yes. For all legal reasons.

Item 9-0, resolution number 2026-R-21, request to accept a 50-foot stormwater easement for Daytona State College along the Gaborie Canal. Staff report.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As I said earlier, purpose of this drainage easement is threefold. First, the easement allows the city to maintain this segment of the canal. Second, the easement allows the city to hopefully eventually expand the canal. And lastly, the easement allows the city to reshape the canal's banks. to reduce erosion, thus reducing maintenance. The area is 1.69 acres. It's 52 feet wide by 1,471 feet in length. Can you pull up the image of it?

Let's move forward with the ordinance.

So staff are recommending that the council approves the request to accept the 50-foot stormwater easement from Daytona State College.

Thank you, sir. Open a public hearing. Citizens' comments.

Is this right behind where they're building the new New Smyrna Beach building new town homes. This is on 10th Street by Daytona State. So where the New Smyrna Beach High School is, the new town homes are coming across the street and you got Daytona.

That's right amongst Daytona State College, which is in the city of Edgewater. This is potentially to help out the Gabordy Canal. It also is near one of our bike trails that go behind Daytona State College. I can't account for where exactly the townhomes are going. They're in the city of New Smyrna Beach. I do know that there's a townhome plan unit development across from New Smyrna Beach High School in that vicinity. I don't think this has anything to do with that because that's in New Smyrna Beach and this is in Edgewater. But your runoff is not going to commit to our canal? I don't believe so. Okay. Thank you, sir. Council comments?

I think this is great. This is a perfect example of planning for the future today. So between this 1.69 acres and the 1.5 that luckily passed off of Tatum Boulevard, we're working in the right direction. So I appreciate this.

This will help storm water tremendously in the area. Is there a motion to approve?

I make a motion to approve resolution number 2026-R-27.

Second, Rain Bird. Roll call.

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

Yes.

Item 10, board appointments, none at this time. Item 11, other business, 11A, maximum millage levy, clarification, staff report.

Good evening, mayor and council. When I was before you at the July 20th, 2026 council meeting, A motion was made and approved for the maximum millage levy to be advertised on the 2026 annual term notice. For the fiscal year 26-27, operating millage at 3.662. The intent was to make the motion for the millage holding at 6.33. It stops understanding that the intent of the motion was for that 6.33. And we're just seeking confirmation that that was the intent of mayor and council. merely to make sure that the records all reflect that. So our recommended action is to confirm the 6.33 as the maximum millage levy for Edgewater operating fiscal year that will be advertised on the 26-27 trim notice.

Thank you. Over to public hearing, citizens' comments. Council comments. Is there a motion to approve the millage rate at 6.33, holding it flat as the same year?

I make a motion to hold the maximum millage levy rate at 6.33.

Is there a second? Is there a second?

Second, Rain Bird.

Roll call.

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

Yes. Under 9 BSP 2412 request for major site plan approval for Edgewater River Oaks Dry Stack Boat Storage Marina Restaurant for property located at 161 Jones Fish Camp Road. Staff Report.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. The request before you today is for a major site plan approval for the Edgewater River Oaks MUPUD portion on the eastern section. This is composed of the dry stack boat storage, marina and the restaurant for 161 Jones Fish Camp Road. If you recall, Edgewater River Oaks MUPUD was approved by the City Council and the applicant first submitted for MyAger site plan on November 18th of 2024. The applicant has undergone seven reviews by the Technical Review Committee, including our third party engineer, Aminan Hun, who has also confirmed that the project meets all the requirements of the Edgewater River Oaks MUPUD agreement, City of Edgewater's comprehensive plan, and the Land Development Code. The project is on 18.8 acres. It consists of a 71,550 square foot dry stack boat storage with 338 dry slips, a 10 wet slip marina, and a 14,400 square foot restaurant with 400 seats. This application does not include the hotel, which was entitled as part of the MUPUD agreement. City staff are recommending approval for SB 2412 for major site.

Thank you, Mr. Salsas. Open to public hearing, citizens' comments.

mayor members of the council uh i'll be brief uh mark wants a little firm of cop coal 231 north woodland boulevard to land i want to thank your staff we've as ryan indicated we've been at this for uh since november of 2024 i have about a dozen powerpoint slides to show you i was going to show you two out of that dozen so if i could just put those up briefly just a quick summary i think you just saw this as well The second slide.

Let's try to keep this underneath 15 minutes.

I'm going to keep it under three, Mr. Mayor. That's my goal. So this is just a summary. What you see on the left-hand side is the summary of what's being proposed to you with the major site plan. Again, it is not proposing any variances, waivers, deviations, rezoning, changes to the MPUD, or changes to the comprehensive plan. This is all based on what has already been approved by the city and what's in your land development regulations. You go to the next slide. This is, again, just a summary. We've gone through seven different reviews with your technical review committee to make sure that that is the case, that it does meet all of the standards that have been adopted. There's been about 20 months of that.

There are zero outstanding comments based on compliance with your code.

If there are questions from the council, we have a number of other slides. I'll just submit those to the record. Feel free to ask me other questions. We've got our engineer here if you have anything else that you need to hit detail on, but we appreciate the time that your staff has spent working with us and the time you've spent working with us on developing the standards.

Thank you, sir. Over to public hearing, citizens' comments.

I just want to bring to memory the concern about the mangroves and- Ma'am, please state your name and address for the record. Teresa David, 1015 Regent Street. I just want to bring us back to memory of the mangroves and how our concern was for preserving the mangroves in that area. I don't know where all these developments are going in, and I did see mangroves in the picture. I just wanted to make sure that they are still committed to preserving the mangroves and also to maintaining the mangroves against the invasive species. Thank you.

Council comments. Sir, if you would like to address that, I believe you guys are working with Riverside Conservancy along with the Marine Discovery Center.

That's correct. So one of the slides that's in the record, invasive removal is part of the plan. So there will be invasives that are removed out of that area. There's some areas where prior clearing occurred by a prior property owner. Those areas will be replanted with mangroves as part of the restoration of the shoreline. We're working with Riverside Conservancy with regard to how that will work. We're going to be evaluating also putting in the oyster beds as part of the marine development.

Thank you. Yeah, they're adding the oyster bed. That's new. And you're adding to the mangroves. That's correct. That stretch that you added a while back. Correct. Because that's going to be a view block from the people on the river, I believe.

That's correct. There's some areas in there that were cleared before. There were some invasives in part of that clearing. That area will be replanted as part of the overall site plan development. So we're replanting those mangroves, removing any additional invasives that are there. And again, that all has been coordinated as we included in the PUD through the First Amendment, the requirement that we coordinate all those efforts with the Riverside Conservancy.

Is this the place with all the boats, the boat slips to? They've relinquished some to us, I believe.

It's totally opposite. We relinquished some to them for our boat ramp, so it's taken away from everyday people using our boat ramp facility. And it's hurt us in applying for grants from what I'm hearing as well.

Really?

Yeah. So I think that this is a great project, but there is proof out there that they are taking some allocations from our current boat ramp or boat ramp parking and boat ramp slips among the river. I think the only major one left is the marina project that was discussed at the end of Boston Road that has not been allocated for yet. And the developer does currently own it.

Just for the knowledge of the people, there's a set amount of boat slips that it's allowed on the river.

And it's downsized ours, our availability.

Yeah, and one of the things that we did actually with regard to that, so with regard to the allocation with the dry stack, we were at the number that we were allocated under the PED, but we actually have gone below that with regard to the wet slips. So there was originally an allocation for the city of 20 slips.

That's good, but our boat slips as well are impacted. Right.

So we're leaving some of those boat slips in the city allocation rather than using them for

That's great, but you still took a number of our boat slip allocations away. I'm sorry, I don't want to sound combative, but you have and so we are where we are now. It was a PED agreement that you were under. It's no fault of your own. You got a sweet deal. It was how the city negotiated and it's no fault of Mr. Solstice. It was discussed before he even got here and it was former management, but this is taking away from our boat ramp capacity. And we need as much slips as we could get. You come up and down this road every single weekend, it's packed. Even on a rainy day, the boat ramp is filled and there's parking slips in City Hall. So that's my dilemma. and again i think as you said mr mayor that's part of the rules that were established under the pud yeah it's not your fault but that's my my issue and you know you have to have certain a number of boats lands for for these different kind of grants to approve it such as you know volusia county resources and things to that degree uh the echo board to approve these things you have to have a certain number of allocations it is hurting it's putting a damper on us what I'm hearing. Correct.

But I think we will have an opportunity to at least bring back some of that allocation.

I hope so. So there is a little wiggle room there, a little negotiating room?

It's already been designed with fewer than what was allocated.

They're already granted. It's not their fault. It was the way the city negotiated and not the city council. We're only as good as the information we're given.

So the manatee protection plan provides, that Volusia County has, has a set number of slip allocations for different parts of the county. The City of Edgewater has a slip allocation. In the PUD, the slip allocation was granted to this property. What I'm saying is that we are not using as many, so there are some being released back to the city in this instance. But obviously we have a significant number with dry slip storage, which is one of the things that's encouraged by the manatee plan. to focus on having dry slope storage.

And I think they only open up the Manatee Protective Plan every 15 years or something, isn't it? It's every 15 to 20 years, I believe. Correct.

Whenever they're going back to reauthorize the permits and the incidental tech permits.

That's what I thought. I think it's only like five extra boats.

It's only like $1,500 a slip, too. I mean, that right there, I think, is giving it away. $1,500 for a slip on the Indian River?

That's the cost paid into the plan. Yes. And I can't remember. I think that has been adjusted recently, but I don't have the current number. But again, that's all part of the existing rules that were already set for the project.

So just for the record, this is going to hurt our boat ramp facility in the future. Just for the record.

The boat before you tonight won't, simply because those were already established in the PUD. This is just looking at whether we can .

It's all together as one. It's one project. Our residents are going to look at it as one.

In the final site plan stage, you're looking at whether we can

Correct. I'm well aware of what a site plan is. So what's the alternative? Well, they did allocate some folks lives back to the city. Luckily, I think it was a very, very small amount. But it is. It's better than getting nothing back. But as he stated, this is, it's not their fault. And I'm openly putting that on the record. And I've said that multiple times. It's not the developers fault. This was a negotiation for the city, very poor one. And I'm going to be honest with you, I know that there's been several conversations held in the past that the former city manager was not for that program facility. I think that that could have potentially had something to do

Are there any further council discussion? Mr. Mahoney, can you add a little bit to this situation? I'd like to know exactly.

Sure, we're still allocating, I can't recall the exact number of slips for the new vote that we intend to. built by Boston Whaler. I believe it is in the 80s, though.

86, I think.

Yeah.

It was over 100.

He's moving around. We intended to build it with around 100 or so. So we had to scale that down to the available slips to the city. The project is still moving forward, though, with, at full build-out, eight wet slips and a slip for industrial equipment. which is a bonus to get extra money from ECHO and then the Port Authority as well. So the project's still ongoing, but we would be relatively at zero slips at that point.

And not having the extra number of slips is hurting us with those places, talking to the different grant people.

Yeah, I'm still optimistic, though, at the project. Oh, I'm sure. I think the project is sure to move forward.

I agree. I'm not saying it's not. I just want to put that on the record because openly, I believe in the past, it was said that this development has not affected that. When we were approving the last site, it's not our city council meeting. You can watch it. So I just want to put that on the record that it is actual factual that the boat slip numbers is hurting our community, potentially. Okay, but this is related to the site plan. So are there any further council comments about the site plan? This basically just means that they've met legal requirements and that they are 100% within their PUD agreement.

So this is like a quasi-judicial decision we're making here tonight, is that correct?

Correct. Good question. So is there a motion to approve?

Make a motion to approve request for major site plan approval for the Edgewater River Oaks dry stack food storage.

Second, Rain Bird. Roll call.

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

No.

Councilwoman Gillis? No. Councilman Thomas?

Yes.

Item 10, board appointments. Oh, sorry. I apologize. Item 11. c ht 2060-02 request for permission to remove three historical trees at 300 base leg drive staff report thank you mr mayor that is requesting within parktown at 300 base leg drive to remove three historic trees

Uh, the applicant has identified through a tree survey, a 37 inch. 40.5 inch and a 42 inch dbh, Virginia live votes on the property. Uh, the applicant is asking for the city council to consider 1 of the following options. 1st, section 21 dash 5503 B of the city of headquarters land development code for options for removal. A, the first option is to determine that the tree to be removed is in such a condition that it is hazardous to the surrounding area or structure so that no replacement is necessary. B, a replacement of trees at a ratio of 1 inch to 1 inch diameter, which result in 119.5 diameter-based inches, which would be 48 trees at a minimum DBH of 2.5 inches. or a tree fee at the cost of $25 per square inch in the amount of $93,463.94 to the City of Edgewater's Tree Fund. City staff defer to the Council's discretion per Article 5, Section 21-5503 of the City of Edgewater's Land Development Code regarding one of the three options. I'll be happy to repeat the three.

Thank you, sir. Open a public hearing, Citizens Commons.

Good evening. I'm Taylor Huddleston, 811 South Cooper Street, New Smyrna Beach, Florida. The applicant is Williams Development Company. We intend to build in the industrial park there. This is one of the lots that was developed in the industrial park to have a light industrial building on it. it's adjacent to the community water pond there the whole water for runoff and this is a wooded area as several of the lots are they were left that way and these trees are right in the center of the lot we would propose to remove these as hazardous to the construction of the building and as part of that also there is some trading we can do there is a, a sewer lift station that is on our property that is needed to the city. And we propose to give that to the city. With any legal paperwork, no cost from us, there probably some legal fees for you guys to draw up the legal paperwork to do that. But as part of that, we will do this piece as well.

So you don't want to be good stewards and do it anyway?

That we do. All right. We also don't want to make $93,000 for these trees and that it would be impossible to build in this lot. And I think that the the PD original industrial park was intended for this to become like industrial stuff. And that's what we intended the same stuff is there.

I know that this may be crossing the boundary if you're not comfortable with answering it. What exactly are you proposing to be there? I know, but the residents may not. I think it's a great area for what you're trying to do. Could you just kind of speak on the vision? And I was just kidding about that. Oh, I get you.

I get you. That's fine. You may have a site plan there, but they're light industrial metal buildings. It's about 38,000 square feet, two buildings that lay out across this piece of property. Very similar to what's there already. We own a building across the street that has a plumbing supply house in it and a boat deck installer and a car refurbishing outfit. The same outfit.

Thank you, sir.

This would look the same.

Awesome.

Do you have the, well you can see it very lightly in that picture. That diagram shows the various treaties that are there. And then the metal buildings themselves. this is what it looks like currently this was a lot intended to be this type of development when the entire park was put in and then maybe the first picture shows a little better because very lightly in that first picture you can see the outline of the buildings we propose it's one aligned with the road to the right and another one aligned with the pond

Do you have a lot? Do you plan to keep the trees in the other areas? Do you have any trees left on the?

The entire area on the back side is a canal that stays wooded between this property and the storm retention pond that was put in. There won't be any trees that will be opened up and then we got plantings along our town, and Long Park Town is where that sewer station is.

Thank you, sir. Are there any further citizens' comments really quickly, if you're done with your presentations? Thank you for being here. We appreciate it.

Cindy Black, Umbrella Tree. $93,000 taking out three trees, that's not much money. I mean, I spent a fortune on my trees. We need our trees that they prevent flooding. mean that's what a lot of citizens have been griping about is you know these people come along here and want to build it in our city and they're clearing lots um at least we can cut it in half but you know we can't keep letting people clear these lots i mean these trees are valuable i know what i spent on you know my plants and I'm at risk having to take them down just to rebuild the canal banks that are flooding just because other people built. So think about it. I mean, you know, one-inch trees don't do too much, and it takes 50 years for them to grow. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. We appreciate your comments. OK, back to council comments. I will just say that if you are a residential builder or something like that, I'd say I'm not in your favor. But due to where it is, due to the complexity of the lot, due to that it is basically going to potentially be a non-useful partial, Um, I always in for trees being built. It's not about the money. I mean, I'm sure that they can afford to pay the money. I'd rather see something built in place that is going to help the environment for years to come. It may take a long time to grow, but they're still going to be able to. Here's my other question is, I'm sure that this could somewhat be, if we deny this, burdensome under SB 180, because they are complying with our codes and ordinances, and these trees being here would allow them not to build. Wouldn't they have a potential case of that?

It's definitely possible. I mean, the code's pretty specific about the issue. And then additionally, you know, there's this dangerous tree law where the Arborist Report could consider them to be dangerous trees and remove them for those separate grounds, too.

But our historical tree ordinance was on the books long before SB 180, so that would still protect those three trees.

But it's still burdensome. So they could still sue and potentially have that case law.

Now that she's pointed that out, it would have to be a new ordinance post-SP-180 for that to be implicated. And as far as I can tell, there is no new law on that. So no, it wouldn't automatically entitle them to a lawsuit.

Has there been a backup plan submitted, potentially, Mr. Salsas?

no city staff have been reviewing the occupation as presented tonight so and it's important to note that uh Parktown allows for 80 impervious surface so typically every lot in Parktown is cleared 80 of the lot is cleared and part of that is in the development agreement itself uh specimen trees are required to be paid for so in addition to his historic trees here i think he's got another 34 or something thousand he's got to pay for the clear cutting of that site and that goes into the tree fund so that's part of it uh with park town as part of that puds we're talking about the rules being set up part of the rules being set up in there was it allowed you to do that beyond historic accept historic trees it allowed you to clear specimen trees as long as you paid so just to put some context to the development agreement thank you sir mr thomas do you have any insight that you would like to give i've got more comments go ahead what