Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

We'll open the planning board meeting of Monday, 04/14/2025. If you would all please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you all. Friendly reminder to please silence your cell phones. And we will begin. I think we have one absence. Mr. Johnson is not here. Did he

Doctor. Mr. Johnson stated he would be in attendance today.

Doctor. Okay. We will Groce: we go ahead and call the roll, hopefully he's just waiting for a train to pass or something.

Doctor. Mr. Whiting?

Doctor. Here.

Mr. Johnson? Ms. Carter? Present. Mr. Collins?

Yes, ma'am.

Mr. Edwards? Here. Chairman Kreisel?

Present. We'll give Mr. Johnson a few minutes and come back to item four if necessary. Item five, approval of minutes from our 03/10/2025 meeting. I would entertain a motion.

So moved.

Second.

We have a motion to approve the minutes by Mr. Whiting, second by Ms. Clemens. Please call the roll.

Ms. Clemens?

Yes.

Mr. Johnson? Ms. Carter? Yes. Mr. Collins?

Yes, ma'am.

Mr. Edwards?

Yes.

Ms. Whiting?

Yes.

Ms. Chairman Kreisel?

Yes. And before we jump into new business, I would like to point out that we do have a new member of the board with us today. Mr. Collins, would you please introduce yourself? Sure.

Ryan Collins, nearly a lifelong resident of Fort Pierce. I've been on a served on a few other boards in the city throughout the past eight or nine years, and always wanted to to join the planning board. I've followed along, so shouldn't be too far behind. It'll take a couple to get up to speed, I'm sure. But looking forward to to being a part of the board, and thanks for having me.

Thank you for being here.

For the record, Mr. Johnson just entered the meeting.

Noted. Thank you. We also have in attendance with us, Ms. Fogarty, with the school board. Thank you for being with us. Your ears must have been burning, because we were

A little bit. It was like

a tingle. Just a little.

All right. Let's get on with new business. Item 6A, conditional use. Ms. Driver, you have the presentation?

Ms. Yes, I do. Good afternoon, Board. Before we bring on behalf of the planning department, we bring before you the Crossroads Recreational Vehicle Park, a conditional use with new construction. The applicant is Leo Giogrande, principal of GEP.

The property owner is Alexander George and Company Corporation. Parcel ID is 232431200050004. In summary, a conditional use with new construction application has been submitted for design review. Crossroads Recreational Vehicle Park is seeking approval for an 84 RV park with community amenity center, pool, and pickleball court. The property is in C 3 general commercial zoning district and has a future land use of GC general commercial.

Educational purposes, conditional use according to city code article five, section 125 dash three twenty five, the purpose of a conditional use process is to allow when desirable uses that would not be appropriate, generally, or without restriction throughout the particular zoning district, but which, if controlled as to number, area location, or relation to the neighborhood, would not adversely affect the public health, safety, comfort, good order, appearance, convenience, and the general welfare. Here is the site location outlining the city limits in the property that is within the city limits. The site area is 10.9 acres. Future land use is general commercial.

What kind of shit?

The zoning is c three general commercial. Site plan with details. The proposed RV lots, 84. Lot sizes, 35 to 45 feet long. The community will offer an amenity center, pool, pickleball court.

There will be a wet pond, a proposed wet pond, about an acre, a little over an acre, excuse me, as well as a bike rack. The landscape plan, total perimeter of trees, proposing 90 trees, which includes landscape buffer and interior landscaping. Staff recommendation is approval for the site plan with the following six conditions. Would you like for me to read the conditions, Mr. Chair?

Doctor. I think we're good.

Doctor. Okay.

Alternate recommendations would be to recommend approval with additional or modified conditions, or to recommend disapproval. Thank you.

Thank you, miss Driver. I was looking through the use table, and I did not see a single zoning in the table that would not require a conditional use for this type of application. Is that correct?

I think that's probably correct. Yes.

And just to clarify, this is a recreational vehicle park, not a mobile home park? Correct. And the distinction between them is obviously significant. This is transient usage, not permanent structure?

That is correct.

Were there any sidewalk improvements proposed as part of this plan?

Yes. So there will be sidewalks along Crossroad Parkway. So those were the only ones that were proposed.

Okay. Alright.

Board, any other questions for staff?

The the existing Treasure Coast RV Park, I guess, they went through the same process. Is that is that correct? When they when they were put in?

Any RV park would have gone through the same process. Yes.

Any other questions for staff? Okay. At this time, I would ask the applicant to come forward. Is the applicant here? Yes, please. Please come forward to the podium. State your name and sign in.

Leo Giangrande with Giangrande Engineering and Planning. I'm the applicant's agent. Thanks for everybody's time in reviewing this and staff.

So this would just be your opportunity to share with us any additional information about your proposed plan that you might want to let us know about or we can turn it over to the board to ask you any questions directly?

I believe we provided everything in there that there's really nothing in addition that we've already provided. It's a traditional RV park with some side amenities that'll go along with it. But if there's any questions or concerns, I'm here. I actually got the owners here with me as well, but I have pretty good intimate knowledge of hopefully answering anything that you might have.

Right. Any questions for the applicant?

I don't think there's like anything unique about this compared to other RV parks of additional businesses that would be coming along or other concerns or other amenities. It's pretty much a straight RV park.

Okay. And also note, I did note on the site plan that the amenity features were going to be permitted separately?

That's correct.

Okay. What is the purpose of that? Or is it just?

The purpose was just the design process of getting them together. We obviously had a lot of other ideas before the plan that you saw in here and how to develop the park and that what would be included in that amenity center. So that now that we have that together, we could probably get a better vision on what the design will be for those facilities so that they'll be designed once. There's a risk to do it concurrently along with the site plan and the rest of the development. A lot of times you could have to go back in and redesign. So, this worked out well for the schedule.

Okay. Understood. Well, thank you very much.

You're welcome. Thanks everybody here very much.

Alright. I will open this item six a to comments from the public. If there's any members of the public who wish to speak on this item, please come forward. Seeing none, I will send it back to the board for any additional questions, comments, concerns. Hearing none, I will entertain a motion.

I move for approval with the six conditions listed.

Second.

We have a motion for approval by Ms. Clemens, second by Mr. Edwards. Please call the roll.

Ms. Carter? Yes. Mr. Collins?

Yes, ma'am.

Mr. Edwards?

Yes.

Mr. Whiting?

Aye.

Ms. Clemens? Yes. Mr. Johnson?

Yes.

Chairman Kreisel?

Yes. All right. Thank you. Moving on to item 6B, site plan and innovative residential development.

All right. I'm sorry. Good afternoon. So before you, on behalf of the planning department, we have Margarita Villa Apartments site plan, where the applicant is Giza Snaizycebo in Avadel Group Ltd. The property owners is 4101OrliandaGroupLLC.

Parcel ID is 24334140001004. In summary, the applicant is requesting review and approval of an application for a site plan under the innovative dev excuse me, development code for apartments at 4101 Orlando Avenue. The four story multifamily 30 unit apartment proposes to offer community amenities such as gazebo with picnic tables, gravel walkways, park benches, and passive recreational area spaces. The proposed development is located on a parcel with approximately 2.5 acres. The future land use of the parcel is medium density RM with the zoning R-four.

Here is the site location outlining the city limits and the parcel that is located within the city limits. Again, the site area is about 2.5 acres. Future land use is RM, medium density residential. Zoning is r dash four, mini medium density residential. Here is the site plan that I have details on the next screen.

Just wanted to Site plan details. Proposed units 25 straight zoning. Additional five units are being requested, which will give 30 units. Four story floors. The bedrooms are one that will average range between one and three bedroom units.

The community will offer balconies, gazebo, cookout tables, park benches. Here is the depicted landscape showcasing the buffer details on the next page. The landscape details on the east side, proposing about six trees. The west, eight, twenty four on the Southeast, and about 13 on the Southwest, which comes to a approximately I believe there's about 90 trees total proposed for the interior of the property, which would include landscape aisles for parking as well.

If I could add, I think the site is so designed to retain existing some existing trees on-site. Yes. Which is quite unusual when we have a development proposal these days that actual site design accommodates existing trees within that design.

That is correct. Here are the elevations, proposed elevation of the four storey multifamily. Elevation details, again, four stories equaling 30 units, six one bedroom units, twenty two two bedroom units, and two three bedroom units. The proposed rendering of the multifamily apartment. The color board for the proposed use.

Staff's recommendation is approval of the site plan with the following seven conditions. Would you like for me to read the conditions?

I'm okay. I did read them earlier. Thank

you. You're welcome.

Alternate recommendations will be to recommend approval with additional or modified conditions or to recommend disapproval. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Driver.

You're welcome.

Questions for staff?

Last month, we had a lot of properties. And there was the question with having a busing for the schools that there's adequate. And so I guess I'm asking that question where the stop is and if there's consideration for that.

For the bus stop? Yeah. Okay. So, yes. So, there is conversation. The applicant will be able to provide more information on that, because my understanding, they have been communicating with St. Lucie County School Boards to determine what that location would be.

Good. Anyone else? Questions for staff?

So as far as the innovative component, what are they saying is gonna be innovative?

Okay. So good question. So in addition to the landscaping that they're adding as well as preserving the wet pond, the dry retention, there's gonna be the balconies. Every unit's going to have balconies. There's the gazebo, the park area in the back of the unit. So those are the things that will be the community offers.

Gotcha. Mhmm.

Will those items be maintained and guaranteed like the landscape bond? Or we no longer have bond, but agreement.

So they are part of the site plan identification. The site plan is signed once approved by city commission, so that right there, in a sense, is binding. I don't know.

Yeah. Well, the landscape is then covered by a maintenance agreement, which providing the development is not changed. It retains itself in perpetuity on that property. You would have to have a site plan amendment or a landscape amendment to change either the site plan layout, the facilities within the site plan, or the landscaping.

So that doesn't alleviate them removing them?

No, they have to retain them.

Okay. Okay.

They have to retain them in compliance with what's approved on the site plan.

Okay. Thank you.

Ms. Driver, could you go back to the zoning map portion of the presentation? Actually, think maybe back one or one more. There's I was just curious about this. So looking along Oleander Avenue, there seems to be quite a significant parcel of property that's lined out between the roadway and the subject property. Well, actually, all of the properties that are along the west side of the road. And I was just curious as to what exactly that is.

What is it?

That all just easement? Or is it The right The extended right of way is that wide? Well, that'll be useful when they eventually need it wide and oily under.

Expand. Yeah. Yeah. Impossible for when they expand the road.

Okay. Alright. Any other questions for staff? Seeing none, would ask the applicant to please come forward. And if you have a presentation prepared or just wanna answer some questions, please state your name and sign in.

Rebecca Good afternoon. Let me get signed in. I am Rebecca Gruhalt with MBV Engineering here on behalf of the owners. I also have Angelina Vitter with me. She's another one of our project engineers.

And if I could, Carrie, would you maybe go to the landscaping plan? Thank you. First of all, we're excited to really bring you a site that builds significantly on what's typically known as a code minimum landscaping and architectural design process. So we really work to meet the innovative community development standards. And are we the first ones coming in on this, or did you have one?

First. Okay. Might be

So hopefully we try to set the bar for the process that I know staff has worked really hard on. I think the biggest thing I want to talk about is the preservation of large oaks that are on the site. And we've talked about that. Those are towards the rear of the property. We've added bioswales, which are a low impact development method, and they enhance the landscaping as well as the design, over again with typically a code minimum standard.

We are requesting five additional bonus units. The zoning district here allows for up to 10. And with the five, we'll be at 11.8. I think that's important to note because we're still beneath the 12 units that are allowed through the future land use designation, that residential medium density. In looking at the landscaping again, we're retaining trees, we're really proud of that.

Those trees are going to help heat and cool the property. And I think it's a stark difference to the way most properties are developed. And I think when you look at that aerial, you can even see the property that's just to the north was pretty much completely clear cut. It was just raised edge to edge. Trees, shrubs, and green spaces will also help to act as buffers to preserve privacy and reduce any impacts this development might bring.

The two bioswales are really important because they're an alternative to traditional stormwater systems that are inlets and pipes. Bioswales themselves are vegetative strips that collect and filter stormwater from the parking lot prior to entering that storm water management system. And that might not sound like a lot, but its real importance is removing nutrients, which those include nitrogen and phosphorus. That's the big standard now in state storm water measurements is to reduce those from going ultimately into the lagoon. So they really help preserve, filter that storm water and treat it before it's discharged off of site.

The low impact design is really an innovative and aesthetically pleasing treatment. The city put a bioswale in years ago at Riverview Park. It's there in the master garden area, and it's just a really great amenity. The rear of the property features a paver type sitting area. You can see that kind of on the screen.

There's a little path, and there's several paths that loop you through the property and around those trees. In looking at the architecture, the architectural style incorporates a couple different vernacular styles, including really present to you roofline and roof articulation materials thank you, right there to create visual harmony. So it really merges Florida vernacular with the Anglo Caribbean style really incorporates both styles into a finished product. There's a symmetrical facade, which features a horizontally articulated entry gable. That's right where the orange arrow is pointing to.

And that's accented with split stones. It offers a deep roof overhang, and that overhang, I think, is important. Because when it's raining or super hot and sunny, that's going to help protect the residents from the elements. The windows and the doors are vertically proportioned, and the windows all feature shutters. The upper floors have lap board siding.

The balconies provide additional articulation in the design. And the balconies are placed so that the residents have used either onto oleander or the rear of the property. So they're either facing the east or the west. I think that's important because there are no balconies to either the north or the south side that would look at the adjacent residential area. So again, that was purposely set.

The vertical columns and gabled roof peaks of the roofline help provide some visual impact. It's just not a typical gabled roof, a flat roof, or a parapet in any kind. The colors utilized are from the color palette presented in the city's architectural design standard booklets. They utilize a soft white as well as the colors. And these are all different shades of blue.

It's Pantone 290C, Pantone 7455C oh, there we go which is kind of like a darker blue. And the railings are a dark brown. The roof itself is a standing seam metal roof in a cool gray color. So I hope that helps to address a little bit about meeting the innovative design standards through the improved architectural standards, as well as the landscaping. And I am happy to address any questions from the board or hear from anyone in the audience.

And I do want to mention, because it was brought up, we've been in touch with Nicole to help make certain that school kids have a safe and functional place to catch the bus to and from school. All right. With that, I'm happy to turn it back to you.

Thank you. All right. Questions for the applicant?

Also a little bit more about the bonus units you were talking about.

Yes. There is we requested five additional density units, which brings our total density to the site at 11.8 dwelling units.

So the structure is the same structure or does the side dimensions change at all with it?

No. No, it's incorporated into the design.

Miss Clemens, did you have something?

I was gonna ask about the school board, but I'll wait until she's finished.

Alright. Thank you very much. Thank you.

I'm sorry.

Had a question.

Oh. Yeah. Sorry. Sorry. Well, this has elevators, correct? This building?

It will have an elevator internally.

Mhmm.

And also, you will you allow pets? And does this have any place for pets to, like, a dog park?

We don't have a dog park per se incorporated. And I think just, you know, in general, I think the owners are open to allowing pets. I think we're really far ahead of that decision right now. I know that pets are important to a lot of people. I myself have pets. So we'd like to see them encourage it, but I don't think that's a zoning decision as part of this.

Good question. Okay.

And there is a tremendous amount of green space saved on this site, So there should be really good dog walking places.

Thank you. All

right.

At this time, we would open it up to public comment if there is any members of the public that would like to speak on item 6B. Seeing none, I will send it back to the board for any additional questions, comments, concerns.

Yes. This question is for Ms. Fogarty. Is it Fogarty?

Yes, ma'am.

Have you all come to any decision about how the buses will accommodate any students in that building?

Yes, ma'am. So currently, right now, we have a bus stop that's scheduled at Oleander Oaks, which is just north of that development. So in our discussions, did a sidewalk located out onto the front just to allow those two to be able to maybe do a joint bus stop or depending on how many students. Because that's our thing is that if we have a big concentration of students, then we would break it up into two stops so that we're not stopping full drive. So we'll pull into Oleander Oaks, pick up there, and then bring out, and then the children meet there.

One of the discussions we talked about was pulling directly into the multiunit development and picking up at the front there because, as she mentioned, the weather. So it's just all seeing of the concentrating concentration of students we have in that area and how we can do that logistically to be able to pick them up. Especially in, I mean, keep in mind, our first and foremost is safety. So that's but I think she's showing here is that the sidewalk is on this site plan for this, including a crosswalk.

Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

So the development to the north of this property already has

A bus stop.

A bus a bus loop capability on-site within their property?

Yes. They do.

Very good. Alright. There's no more comment from the board. I would entertain a motion at this time. So

moved.

Second? Is that with the conditions?

Yes. So we need a motion for approval or for approval with the seven conditions stated by staff. That it?

So moved.

Okay. Second.

All right. So we have a motion for approval with the seven conditions by Mr. Whiting, second by Ms. Clemens. Please call the roll.

Mr. Collins?

Yes, ma'am.

Mr. Edwards? Male Yes. Female Mr. Whiting? Male Yes. Ms. Clemons?

Male Yes.

Female Ms. Carter? Male Yes. Chairman Kreisel?

Male Yes. Female All right. Moving on, item 6c. We have site plan, the district, 2591 McNeil Road.

Thank you, chair. This is a site plan application for a commercial use. The property is or the applicant is Haley Ward, represented by Connor Kennedy. The application for the district site plan, it proposes 18,000 square feet of office and flex flex space. So in the city, we've noted a shortage of the type of units that are being proposed here with the site plan.

Staff are encouraging the type of development that does provide the variety of commercial uses within the city. It's nice to see a departure from warehouse or storage. So we're looking forward to this one I think. So the site is located West of McNeil Road, which runs north south and approximately 500 feet from its intersection with Okeechobee Road. Site area is 3.37 acres, there or thereabouts.

It incorporates two parcels which will be assembled together. There is an existing drainage easement, and we'll maybe show that later. So that means that existing storm water that's utilized as part of these development, I think to the north, is also associated with the new development. C3 is the zoning. And you'll note that most of the properties adjacent to Okeechobee are C3.

We do have some planned development and C1 uses to the south over the canal. And again, commercial general uses established along Okichabe Road, this would this use is a perfect fit in both future land use and zoning. Now the site plan has been revolved here, so north is now pointing to the right hand side of the side screen. McNeil Road runs along this bottom part of the screen. The site plan revealed really limited concerns in terms of wetlands, habitat, species, exotic vegetation, vegetation is present on-site, that will be removed as part of the development process.

There is an existing dry retention area which will be utilized. The plan is fairly simple in terms of a number of units. The seven I think there's seven units on the plan. Fairly simple.

There's

landscaping. So they've provided the code requirements for trees, shrubs, and landscaping. Brightening up the architectures with some murals and details to articulate the various units in the development. And the architect has provided a description of the theme to develop this as a very clean modern style, vertical design articulation, and incorporating murals on the east facade sorry, on the sides of the building on the east facade, which is the fronting McNeil Road, you'll see that they're designed to look like store fronts. And a lot of the ancillary equipment that's on the rooftop is actually shielded from view.

So staff recommendation is to move this to city commission with a recommendation of approval. And there are seven conditions with the development and nothing unusual from the list of conditions that we would normally attach. If the planning board so wish, they can approve with amended conditions or disapprove the application. And that ends the staff presentation.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Mr. Freeman. All right. To the board, any questions for staff?

Seeing none, I would give the applicant the opportunity to come up and introduce yourself. Please, state your name and sign in.

Afternoon, everyone. My name is Connor Kennedy. I'm a planner with Haley Ward here representing the property owner, Craig Mason, who's also here in attendance. I have nothing additional to add. I thought Kev did a great job presenting this project to you guys, but I'm here if you have any questions.

Alright. Board, do you have any questions for the applicant? So I I have one, which is in regards to the the portion of your property that has the travel lane easement behind the I believe that's the car wash?

Yes, sir.

Right. So looking at your site plan, there did not appear to be any connectivity to your parking lot from that right of way. And I was just curious if that was something that you were not able to do or was not something you just weren't interested in?

Yes, so the sale of this property to our client was predicated on the condition that he couldn't have cross access both to that parcel and the bank. So we informed both the city and the county of this when we were going through the review process and they were fine with that.

And for Kevin, it's too early a stage for any kind of consideration of traffic impact, right, that comes later?

It was reviewed as part of this. It's not a significant impact on this Okay. With this development.

Given the proximity to Okeechobee as well, the county also reviewed our traffic analysis and found no issues with it, so.

Very good. All right. Well, thank you very much.

Thank you.

I will open up to comments from the public. Any members of the public wishing to speak on item six c, please come forward. Seeing none, I will send it back to the board for any last questions, comments, concerns. Hearing none, I would entertain a motion at this time.

Am I able to approve with the seven conditions? Seven?

Yep. Okay.

List it. Second.

All right. We have a motion to approve with the seven conditions stated by staff, by Ms. Carter, second by Mr. Edwards. Please call the roll.

Mr. Edwards? Yes. Mr. Whiting? Yes. Ms. Clemons? Yes. Mr. Johnson? Yes. Ms. Carter? Yes. Mr. Collins?

Yes, ma'am.

Chairman Kreisel?

Yes. Alright. Well done, everyone. Moving on to item seven.

You look excited. Well, you look enthusiastic.

It is that time of year for us to elect a chair and vice chair for this board. These are the only two officer positions. Obviously, the chair position's pretty self explanatory. And the vice chair position to relieve the chair in case of absence, I went back and watched the video from last year at Frank's well, would I think that was actually his second to last meeting when we did the last section of elections. So and don't worry.

I'm not planning to resign from the board. But I was just reminded of, you know, the the the depth of the service in that position. I believe he was on the board for eight years prior to stepping down. And then I went back and I looked through all of our entries in the Citi website, and miss Clemens has been with us the longest since 2000. I joined in 2022.

I think also mister Edwards did. So, and then we've got some newer members and some brand new members a brand new member today. So, that's really encouraging that, you know, that there is continuing to be such interest in what we're doing here. So, at this time, I would send it to the board for a motion for why don't we start with vice chair? Smart move. That was a smart move.

I make a motion to to I don't even know the motion to make. To so is it to elect miss Clemens as a vice chair? Is that the motion that I need to make? Sounds good.

Okay.

Alright. Let's go. A motion. Is there a second?

I'll second.

Alright. We have a we have a motion to retain Ms. Clemens at the position of Vice Chair by Ms. Carter, second by Mr. Collins. Please call the roll.

Ms. Clemens? Yes. Mr. Johnson?

Yes.

Ms. Carter? Yes. Mr. Collins?

Yes, ma'am.

Mr. Edwards?

Yes.

Mister Whiting? Yes. Chairman Kreisel?

Yes. Alright. And now for the chair position. I'd like to hear a motion.

I'm almost a newbie, but I would recommend that we maintain both the chair and the vice chair. I'm making a motion that Anton is retained as the chair.

Second.

You did a great job.

Okay. We have a motion by Mr. Whiting, second by Ms. Clemens. For the chair position, please call the roll.

Mr. Whiting?

Yes.

Ms. Clemens? Yes. Mr. Johnson? Yes. Ms. Carter? Yes. Mr. Collins?

Yes, ma'am.

Mr. Edwards? Yes. Chairman Kreisel?

Yes. That was fairly painless.

Thank Thank

you, everyone. Now moving on to our director's report. The busiest man in the city of Fort Pierce.

Yeah. It feels like it, really. We do have a new city manager. So I met with the city new city manager the end of last week. We'll be going through and I did I think I brought forward a presentation regarding, yes, I did, the strategic plan.

So we met and we spoke about the strategic plan and how the new city manager will be moving forward with getting that on track. So you're likely to see a few things coming through based on that momentum. We are re trying to recruit. We do have a number of applicants in the pipeline. And, hopefully, this week or next week, we will be interviewing and hopefully getting some applicants in the planning department.

I wanna thank miss Fogarty for joining us today. We've had some really good discussions regarding developments as they're coming through. So that that's a, you know, a communication that's opened up, and I'm I'm welcoming that. And hopefully that the the planning board will be supportive of recommendations made by the school district as they move forward. We're obviously all our efforts have been to make development better, to create the safe environment that citizens deserve in this city.

And our priority has been sidewalks and connectivity. But a part of that is creating safe routes, both to schools and to bus stops. So that's gonna be a big big thing that we'll be looking at in site plans. We always have, but it would be great to get some good input coming on that. We do have some big projects coming forward.

I did receive or planning department did receive a development proposal that was put forward under the Live Local Act. The location is Causeway Cove, and I'll be distributing some information on that as we get that organized. But that's for approximately a thousand units together with mixed use restaurants, marina, the whole thing. The requirement from live local is 40% affordable affordable housing. So we're looking at that, how that works, and, you know, obviously doing that review.

But it is significant development, significant also for the school district.

More than one more

than one bus there. But, yes. So it's it's an unusual development. It's utilizing the state's allowance. So I will be able to update the planning board and the city commission, but the planning board and city commission won't be involved in the decision making process. It will be run administratively in accordance with the state allowances and requirements. So that's a lot of pressure to get that right, make sure we've reviewed it correctly. So yeah, you'll be hearing more about that one.

There was a

Mister chair, if I can ask a question. Even though it's being filed under the Live Local Act, could we still receive like a presentation just to feel an overview? I know we we have no jurisdiction or I say authority over approval or denial. But could we at least receive a presentation so that we can see some expectations?

I have committed in the past, and we've had one other live local that we brought forward, and the city commission did ask me to do a update to them. But I think I should be extending that to the planning board and bring that forward as well as, you know, forwarding information as we review it. It is a significant project, and it would be good for the planning board members to be aware of that because I'm sure in their day to day lives, they may be asked about, well, you know, what's going on with this. I'm sure there's gonna be a large newspaper article or something going on with that social media and everything going on. So it is an interesting project.

It's unusual. It's, you know, driven by state legislative actions. And so we're trying to figure out how that works. I was gonna say, we have we had a discussion this morning, I wasn't involved with it, but the commission did discuss this morning the an annexation agenda of a, you know, real strategic plan regarding annexation. And you see on every every site plan that we bring forward, when we look at the location of properties or sites within the city, it's a patchwork patchwork.

There are county properties, there are city properties, and a lot of this development is going on the edge of the city where you get this puzzle piece of county and city. So I'm happy and pleased that, you know, the request was made this morning, and the city manager is gonna initiate this task, I think. We were already working behind the scenes on it to try and get a strategic view, overview of the annexation strategy in the city. So you will be seeing some of that, I'm sure. But other than that, severely, severely busy.

Mhmm. And sometimes I sit down at the end of the day thinking, you know, that was nothing that I thought I'd be doing today. And now it's like, this week has been nothing like I should have been doing this week. It's really, you know, quite crazy. So hoping for new staff. Desperately.

Thank you, mister Freeman. And I have question about that.

Yeah. Where Kozloy Cove is, that fell into the Port District. Correct? On the outer tip?

It's on the outer tip. Yes. It is. I think it it may be on the edge of the Port District. Whether it's in that Port District, I'm not certain. Yeah.

I thought it fell underneath when we had that meeting two months ago. Yeah. Now will that change the usage for everything around it if you're gonna have that much residential right there?

We will we'll be retaining the future land use and the zoning and the overlay still stays in place.

Mhmm.

The live local is a is a an option, I would say an option, for developers to initiate a different type of development review process and development activity. I think it, you know, you got something that large going on there, you are talking about the impact on facilities, on services, on traffic, all the things that go along with a big development in that area. So all those things will be reviewed. And yes, any future development will be, you know will be part of that in their future efforts to develop. So, you know, the traffic increases and maybe encumbered by this development, then it would affect future developments.

Demonstrating that they could provide their own traffic systems or access school bus.

Yeah, this is I mean, obviously, the state statute is what it is. But you know you know, we still have a ongoing responsibility to plan comprehensively. So, you know, obviously, it's gonna be very important for us to have a lot of information about what those developments are doing and how they're progressing so that we can plan around them accordingly. Yeah. And, you know, that's and, you know, that's that's an ongoing challenge that we deal with, you know, even just with the turnover within this board.

You know, you're you're You're hearing an application about a property that's right next door to a property that was approved a year before. And, you know, those competing properties, competing uses Mhmm. The the more continuity that we have, the more, you know, streamlined vision that we have, the the better job we can do at advising the city and and and and asking the right questions on how to move forward. I can't say that I'm a fan of the fact that we're not gonna be Mhmm. Participating jurisdictionally, but, you know, certainly, we just have to stay as informed as we can.

And I just wanna say, you know, thank you, mister Freeman. You know, just so the rest of you know, you know, since taking over as chair, I've been meeting with mister Freeman in advance of these meetings just to try to get a head start on the agendas, ask some additional questions, and and just generally checking in with his department. And, you know, I'm very aware, you know, the staffing issues that he's been having. We have not been able to even have our sidebar meetings for the last two months just because his schedule has been so demanding. So, you know, hang in there.

Feels like it.

You know, the you're doing a tremendous service to the city, and we all really appreciate it. And that's all I have. So are there any other comments from the board?

I have some questions. A couple things. One is, I know a few months back I mentioned or I asked about like, we have so many apartment buildings, housing complexes, commercial development, a lot of things going on in Port Petersburg, which is wonderful. Yeah. I still don't get a a a view of, like, all the things that are going on. I know you you must have a record of that and have, like, a mapping of that. No? Okay.

We have we have the facility to do that. It's having the p having the staff

Yeah.

To update that.

Okay.

There are there are maps in the GIS system, which I think are updated in terms of a generalization of where developments are coming in. But I've I admit, I do not have at this moment a grasp of a map where all this all these things are happening.

Okay. Is that something that could be completed? I know you have staffing issues, but is that something that can be done?

And As soon as I get as soon as we get a department that can work on all of these different things, I've been asked to provide all different services to different departments, and I'm just not able to do that at the moment.

Right.

My time, when you consider what my position should be doing, my time at the moment is completely reviewing plans. Mhmm. Together with managing, together with trying to keep a track of all this stuff going on. It's very difficult at the moment. But it's it's on the radar. It's all the things. It's everything that a planning department should be doing. It does affect the review process because we're constantly having to update ourselves in terms of other things that are going on.

Mhmm.

Because in in essence, there's two people that you you see. Right. Okay. Should be a And we're dealing with the workload of probably, you know, six people.

Well, know, one suggestion that I could make is, you know, for the board, and and this is something that I've been doing, that if when you go to the city website, you can access the planning map. And it's a it's a fairly good interactive tool. You can set different filters and things on it. And what I typically do is I will find each one of these applications on that planning map, and then I'll just kind of widen out, not the whole city, but at least in the immediate area. Because you can click around on the other adjacent parcels, and they will tell you if there's pending applications.

It's a little bit of a search process to, like, find out, you know, where those applications are and what they're doing. So it it it does take a little bit of time. But I think for, you know, for our part of the process, it's it's very helpful in understanding the at least kind of the immediate impacted area. So that would definitely be something I would recommend you all spend some time to do if you have the time.

I have one more question. Sorry.

Sure. Please continue.

So as we continue to prove all these building sites, great growth for Fort Pierce, I know we have, like, you have, like, minimum standards for, like, landscaping plans, replanting of trees. But as far as the overall environmental impact on the city, having more conservation area even in the no I think last meeting, we we approved a a partial to be, conserved in that build upon. Is that also, like, in the plans as far as maintaining more of that? Because this this is a beautiful, green city. And the the impact as far as, you know, turtles, birds, even just the water management will keep increasing as we continue to build.

So what are your I guess, are your what's being done? What are your thoughts on

So we do, you know, we we got the comprehensive plan, which sets out some general overview of conservation and the aims behind conservation. Fort Pierce is fairly unusual. We have a, you know, have a defined urban core, which is not yet fully built out. And that's the intent, is to encourage the build out of the central area to create that commercial residential mix going on. But we also have this juxtaposition of the move west, where we putting up onto primarily agricultural lands and properties that do now have a lot of trees.

What we're finding is, in essence, a lot of those properties have been used for agriculture over a number of years and have been laid out, graded and everything else happening to them that underlying that they are essentially man made conservation areas because if they've been left fallow, then trees have grown there and the underlying land and property and elevations have retained. And if you think about what a, for instance, an orange grove would be at its peak, It would be almost a trough and fallow arrangement where trees are, you know, the properties are built up around them, you get a like an undulating surface there. And that sometimes proves to be a difficulty when we try to retain existing trees because we find that by doing that we're affecting the storm water or whatever is going on in those locations to such an extent. A lot of development actually now because of storm water and resilience requirements or whatever, has to build itself up to a flood plain elevation. So there's the desire to preserve trees.

And we saw from the application earlier, what we're trying to do is provide the developer with more options to reduce the footprint of a building. So on their property, they can retain more green space, retain the trees that are already there. And so that's more of a urban moving into a rural area type thing. There are a lot, many locations which are but, you know, the 10 Mile Creek for example, where we do have real established wetlands, natural areas, which we will always try and retain, whatever we can. Sometimes we propose passive recreation so that those areas are not only retained and usable, but of some value to the developer in terms of these other parts of that property.

So there's an encouragement to get some value for the people who are living in or around that area from that property to open up for public recreation. As we come, we're more moving to the what we're doing in annexation. What is the purpose of that annexation? And there are again multiple purposes of that, is to reduce service costs as we consolidate the city. And not have one street, half county, half city.

It's also to increase property value and taxation receipts for the city in terms of the commercial areas. We need, I think there was a discussion this morning about let's really consolidate the commercial areas and get those into the city because they will help pay and fund services. But on the other end of that, as you're mentioning, if we're going to annex in residential areas or areas that are primarily more rural, what is our strategy there? Is that creating this buffer between the urban and the rural and maintaining that? There's it's a big discussion.

There is always options when we have existing properties that do have established conservation type areas, wetlands and all those good natural areas, to get them preserved. And we will always talk to developers when they come in, and that would be our priority to do that. The city planning board can make their one of the things that they look at as we get development coming through. Make that a point that I can go to my applicants and say this is going to be discussed in planning board. That's one of the other many things that are going to be discussed and I want you to have answers for this.

I would say particularly when looking at the plan development applications. Yes. You know, we're we're given a lot of, you know, kind of, you know, creativity in what we can really kind of set out for in a vision because we're not locked and bound by just what the code says.

Right.

So I think those are really good opportunities to try and push that initiative, which I think is a really good idea. Alright. Well, before we get too far along, I do. I made an error. So we kind of slipped into item 10 board comments here, but, really, we needed to open up the floor to any general comments from the public. So item nine, backtracking. Comments from the public. If there's any member from the public that would like to speak about any issue generally relating to planning, please do so at this time. Seeing none, I think we can move on. If there are no other comments from the board.

My only comment is then, if we are able to, Mr. Freeman, like you were saying, make conservation or make environmental impact a part of the discussion, how do we get that on the agenda?

When sorry. If I made you. Yeah. So when you have an application coming forward and you see options to engage with that sort of discussion with a particular application, then please engage. Engage with the planning staff.

Engage. Give us a heads up where you wanna go with this and what you what what are you thinking. If it's just a general we know that there's going to be questions asked, and a demonstration of a, you know, what are you going to do with this natural area? Why aren't you going to be preserving it? What, you know, give us some If I know that those questions are coming up and you know, are going to be discussed in some detail, that's a leverage that I could use and my staff can use in discussions with applicants.

We know we go through phases of the type of questions we're likely to face in planning board or city commission. And at the moment we're going through a phase, which is always an important they're all important, but you have one surfacing higher than the other. And at the moment we've got a really good, when I say, influence on getting the planning board, planning district's views taken care of. We've got support for that. So I'm not fighting I don't want to be fighting against the applicant and then the applicant coming in and then the planning board are going in a different direction.

I think we are always trying to get onto the same point. And the applicant really does not want to be in a planning board or a city commission fighting for something. That's not a good look. And so any power, if you like, any leverage that planning staff can utilize where the planning board are coming from. That's a huge value. Now we've had this conversation, that will be mentioned to applicants as they come forward. And I would like them to demonstrate if there are opportunities or not opportunities, what are the reasons?

Thank you.

You're welcome.

All right.

The other thing I'll say with what I think Alexander was saying is the last month we and I made the point at the close that we approved literally over a thousand units, housing units and you know here, there and wherever but the conservation is still land mass. Today there wasn't that much density. Arborists in all three of those applications. There's a filter through the arborist but there's a stage before that to what to do with the land versus here's a we're looking at building on that land. I agree with you.

It's probably one of the early checks. Just the conservation of the property, the land itself.

Thank you. Any other discussion? Hearing none, we can move to adjourn. Thank you, everyone.

Thank you.