Community Redevelopment Agency - Regular Meeting

On Microsoft Teams joining us virtually. So that's all set. Are we all set, everyone? Alright. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to City Hall here in the city of Hollywood. Today is Wednesday, 05/06/2026. Hope everybody enjoyed their May 5 and May 4 festivities, whether you're a Star Wars fan or a Cinco de Mayo celebrant. I know a lot of our Mexican restaurants were very lively yesterday. So now here we are for a regular city commission or city community redevelopment agency meeting.

Let's rise 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. Thank you. I'll go ahead and activate the mics for roll call. Clerk?

Board Member Shuham? Here. Board Member Hernandez?

Here.

Board Member Gruber?

Here.

Board Member Biedemann?

Here.

Board Member Quintana? Here. Vice Chair Kalari?

I am here. I will be there for the meeting this afternoon. I'm sorry, I'm at a mandatory training.

All right, Vice Chair Coleria is joining us virtually. Motion quickly to approve her participation virtually.

Motion to approve.

Second.

DANIEL Motion from Board Member Hernandez, second from Board Member Quintana. All those in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none. Thank you, Vice Chair Coleri, for joining us virtually. Let's go ahead to any conflict disclosures? If none, how about 9AM citizen comments? No comment cards. Let's go ahead to the consent agenda. Today, these are items five through eight. Are there any requests cards from the public or requests from the dais? If not, I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda.

Motion to approve.

Second.

We have a motion from board member Schuham and a second from board member Gruber to approve the consent agenda, items five through eight. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, those items carry unanimously.

Let's go ahead to our regular agenda item nine is a resolution of the CRA granting the city the City Of Hollywood access to CRA funds and authorizing CRA to expend funds to implement the one way pilot project that we've previously discussed on 19th And 20th Avenues within the limits of the downtown CRA to concrete works and paving in an amount up to $810,000 and change and to include an owner contingency in an amount up to $82,000 This, of course, is to support infrastructure and facilities and pursue the ambitions of the board. I'll turn it over to Board Member Hernandez since he sponsored this.

Well, mayor and commissioners, thank you for supporting this project. This is a pilot project that it will probably show or tell whether one ways would work in the avenues. And at some point, if it does and if it looks promising, we may want to take it all the way to Pembroke Road in order not to confuse those residents any more than that. But thank you for the support. And thank you to the CRA for funding this. Motion to approve.

Second. We have a motion from Borgman or Hernandez, second from Borgman or Gruber to approve item nine. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the item carries unanimously. Item 10 is a resolution of the CRA approving the final ranking of engineering firms for services to Stormwater Pump Station Number 16 between Jackson And Jefferson Street along A1A and authorizing the appropriate CRA officials to negotiate and execute an agreement with HDR Engineering, which is the highest ranked firm. All right. So let's go ahead. And I have Board Member Shuham, please.

Motion to approve.

Second.

Motion from Board Member Shuham, second from Board Member Hernandez to approve item 10. All those in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, item carries unanimously. Item 11 is a presentation. So let's hear from Kimley Horn Associates and our executive director regarding the recommendation for sidewalk landscaping improvements for A1A for the phase four project from Hollywood Boulevard to Hallandale Beach Boulevard. Executive director, good morning.

Good morning, Chair. We are, of course, well underway on the phase four improvements along the southern section of the CRA District. As you know, Kimberly Horne has been working very closely with staff on this. And we'd like to have a presentation of what those streetscape improvements along A1A look like.

Welcome. Good morning. My name is Jonathan Hague with Kimley Horn. I've been before you before to present status updates on this project in the previous phase as well. I'm not sure if the clicker's working.

You go.

So we're talking today about phase four. This is the phase between Hollywood Beach Boulevard South to Hollandao Beach Boulevard. What we're looking at is a redesign based on experience that we've gained from the previous phase. In this case, what we want to present to you today is a three by four, three foot by four foot surface planter, specified only where sidewalks are seven feet or greater. This will give us a four foot passing space minimum at the backside of the planter.

Palms are gonna be spaced away from lighting and other features to create a passable space more than four feet wide. We, these palms were, these locations were determined at it with a design variation that was approved almost three years ago now by DOT. The spacing and the kind of the rhythm along the street was approved based on sight distance calculations and horizontal offsets and the other DOT rules that apply to roadside plantings. We're looking at the palm species. We're gonna continue the Montgomery palms that were done on the previous phase and introduce another species, the Sylvester date palm as well.

We also, because these planters are gonna be at three foot by four foot, we're gonna have a ground cover planting also within that space, the three foot by four foot space and if this works, this is essentially what the we're gonna show some photo simulations about what that looks like before and after. So this is again renderings kind of showing what we think this will look like with the palms and the two palms types. We've got the pavement treatments as well. We'll show you a detail of that here coming up, before and after. And this shows a little more detail on the dimensions of the project.

So you can see we've got a seven foot wide minimum sidewalk which is, in most cases two feet wider than let's say the east side of the road on the previous phase. So we've got more room to work with on this phase, which will provide us with four feet on the backside. We've got paver sidewalks and we'll show you the detail on what that looks like And then we've got new lighting coming in as well that'll be decorative and we'll have about a 10 to 12 inch base at at where it hits the ground. But we'll have those far enough away from the planters to be able provide good passing space for pedestrians. This is the patterning on the sidewalk, continues kind of the theme that was established in the previous phase.

We're using the blue and green patterning kind of fading into a tan as it goes towards the middle of the sidewalk. You can see where we have the lighting spaced pretty far away from where trees are and then the two tree types are represented by the different symbol types. So we've got the smaller is the thinner Montgomery palms, the larger date palms are in the center and that was established again by DOT for visibility reasons. These are, you know, representative of the two palm types we're looking at for this phase. So why are we planting at the surface?

You know, learned a lot from the previous phase. There was a lot of, you know, unforeseen conditions in various locations that, you know, didn't make sense at first. But now that we've had time to look at it a little, a lot with, take a step back, we've noticed that these trees that were at the surface planter, kind of across from Oklahoma Street, have been really successful. Most of the upland trees, even on private property nearby, have been successful. So this is the direction that we're gonna take on this phase.

Wanted to make sure we put push those trees as high as we can in the planters so that they have the best chance possible to survive and thrive. Again, this is the pavement pattern that we're going to continue from the previous phase. It's a blue and green specialty paver with shell aggregate in it and then a brown shell aggregate paver as well. The detail that we're looking at, again, we're raising these root balls up. It's going to they're going to sit about 10 to 12 inches higher than what they were at the previous phase.

You can see that nearly all the phase four roadside elevations, we also looked at that, are higher than what they were on the previous phase. So this roadway actually sits, for the most part, higher elevation wise than phase three. And that the four foot minimum, we're trying to establish that as the absolute minimum we'd have at the back of the planetary. And this would allow people to pass by more comfortably behind the trees. And again, the ground cover types, we're going to be limited to something low growing.

That hadn't been totally determined yet, but we'll get that implemented pretty soon. But whatever it is, we're going be maintaining it about 18 inches high or something that matures to 18 inches high. In summary, we have the wider sidewalks in phase four will allow for the surface plantings with at least four feet of sidewalk on the backside. Light poles will also be spaced away from the planters to create a nice pattern so people can traverse the area easily. The elevations are higher, which we did a lot more study on that this time.

And as exhibited in the previous phase, you know, putting these planters at the surface is really going to keep these trees, we think, healthy. So based on observations, I have a master certified arborist with me today. He's also helped us in consulting on this project. But I think we've done a lot of research on this and really done a lot of thought. And I think that this is the best method for incorporating the roadside trees in this phase.

Thank you. A question for you. Was there a consideration to actually elevate the planting a little bit by creating, let's just say, a six or eight inch tall planting let's just call it box, for lack of a better word right now and elevate the tree? And then my other question is, is there irrigation plan for these tree pits, let's call it? Because if not, then I'm concerned about the ground cover and wondering if more of a rubber surface might be more, in the long run appealing if the plants don't have irrigation and can't necessarily survive. So I don't know, so go ahead.

So a couple of questions there. There was one about, do we consider raising them up? We did look into that. I just, we felt that the better solution was to keep things flush. In raising the planters, you're also raising up whatever ground cover you have in there, if we end up with ground cover. And those would have to be even shorter, which be hard to find a species that could be trimmed to what, eight, six to 12 inches high and thrive in that kind of urban environment.

Regarding

the irrigation, yes, we will have irrigation in the tree pits. And we also did consider the rubberized surface. Think for long term maintenance and having something that's going to last, that rubberized material, while nice, has a lifespan. And it ultimately ends up turning to crumble over time, especially in our harsh UV and heat and moisture environment that we have here in Florida. So we feel like the best solution is to have an open pit, get those push those roots balls up as high as we can in there, and then put a ground cover in that's a low growing salt tolerant, you know, ground cover that will be hopefully easy to maintain.

JOSHUA Yeah, that will require good supervision, maintenance. And that's just landscape upkeeping, like we all do in our homes. The same will be required, Joseph, for these right of way type ground covers. And so I imagine the cities we just were talking about landscape maintenance offline earlier before the meeting. And so this would just require that love and attention in order to stay appealing and successful. All right. Let's go to commissioners. Board member Shuham.

Thank you, chair. Thank you. Susan, I just want to make sure, because I don't remember all these same players. But everybody here was made aware of everything we've learned with the dead palms. Is that right?

That's correct. We have a different arborist now. Lisa Hammer has retired. However, the arborist and Jonathan Hague well, Jonathan Hague was the same landscape architect in the North. But the current arborist was made aware. He visited the site. He looked through the previous analysis. So yes, he's not coming into this cold.

Okay. So you said that this stretch is higher. So is that the main reason why you're prepared to go ahead with Palms? Because you don't anticipate saltwater impacting the roots the way they have to the North?

That contributes for sure. I think the other thing that really helps is the fact that we have a wider sidewalk to deal with. On the previous phase, part of the limiting factors was creating enough space for pedestrians. And in trying to introduce a palm tree into a narrow sidewalk, you really have to create some kind of walking service that can go almost up to the trunk. And so we had to put them in tree grates.

Okay.

And when you put them in tree grates, then you're burying the root ball a little bit more than what you would normally in a surface planter, because you have to get underneath the tree grate.

Gotcha.

So that all contributed, for sure.

Okay. So I just have a couple of questions. That was the big one. The watering was one, which we talked about. When we dug up some of those dead palms, we saw that those pits were just full of anything except high quality soil. So when you plant these, how do you make sure that the tree is getting off to its best start? Is there a specification mandating good soil?

Yeah, in the previous phase when Lisa did the, I guess for lack of a better word, destructive exploration, pulled out some of the dead palm. She was able to look at the root systems and the soil that was there. And we did make a recommendation at that time that future replantings would have a gravel pit at the bottom to help them drain out faster. We tried that and it's worked to varying success out there as well. So we've done I think we've done a good job of trying to do the best we can. Yes, we do have soil amendments and soil specifications to go in for the replanting. And that will be done by the contractor as well.

And the planting here in

this Yes.

Okay. So that, I just want to make sure that we're not allowing the contractor to put something not high quality in there to get the palms Okay. And then because of the issues that we've had with palms dying, is there a way to purchase extended warranties?

I'm not we'd have to ask the contractor that, whether an extended warranty would be

I mean, would just be curious, you know, how much of an add that is for us, just because, you know, everybody's looked at this. Everybody says this is going to work. The guy selling us the trees, I'm assuming, is agreeing that this is going to work. So there should not be a significant concern. And so more than a year warranty, I think, two or three year warranty should not be expensive.

So I would like to see something, if possible. And then lastly, and this is more, Joseph, for you. If you go to slide 10. So, if you look anywhere here, really, the edges of these planters aren't kept. You know, they're not edged. And so you can just, you know, see kind of weeds growing along the sides here. How do we maintain this? Because I don't think this looks that well maintained. The plants are alive and thriving. Yeah.

So, my question is there's weeds, there's blank, you know, openings. So, while the plants are living, I don't think it looks that great. So my question is for Joseph. What are we going to do to maintain this with sharper edges and cleaner looking than this looks?

As we as they grow, you're right. Get That's the the weeds weeds. In Right. So our contract that we have now that's down there maintaining is responsible to remove the weeds.

Yeah. And also just like edging. You know, like you see every now and then, if they're coming in to weed this, they should be edging along that brick edge so that we are not losing the boundaries of the bed. And I see this a lot, where just things are kind of growing over the edges. And in time, it just doesn't look good. So for me, if we're going to continue with this design, which I am fine with, we have to do a better job of maintaining these beds, making sure there's no weeds and no garbage. Because this happens a lot. Okay? Thank you. And that's all I have.

Thank you. Let's go to Board Member Biederman, then Board Member Hernandez.

I kind of had the same comment about the raising the plant beds. And I understand the challenge to it, but I want to make sure I mentioned it anyway. The comment I have is similar to Commissioner Schuhn about making sure that we're maintaining all of our planning beds. And I know that we have a higher demand than normal. But if we can get a hold of some of the renewable composting to add into these plant beds, I think it'll help their survival rate.

Chris, you here? Was mentioning that maybe we should get some of the renewable composting material from renewables when we're doing some of these plantings. Even though we have a higher demand than normal, we might be able to pick up some of it at least. You can get with staff after if you don't know what I'm talking Sounds

good.

Thank you. Board member Hernandez. Thank you, mayor. Goofy question. You didn't answer whether this thing is going to be irrigated or not.

Yes.

So it will have irrigation. Okay. The point that the mayor made regarding having some kind of edge along the well wells of the trees, as well as the planter, which will take care of the edging, you can have a decorative curb around that. And it only brings it up three or four inches, if need be. And it doesn't disturb anything else.

It keeps the sidewalks cleaner, keeps the edges sharper. And the other part is regarding the warranty that you were looking for, Commissioner Schuham. There are companies that would be willing to get into a leasing program where they would actually maintain the trees, would plant the trees, and would warranty the trees. In other words, they come, they fertilize it, they do things. So let's see how much money we're going to spend doing this and what is our contract to maintain these things.

And look at a company that may be willing to take a risk and put the right plan at the right place and be able to maintain it and give you a warranty until the tree actually gets there. Regarding the gravel underneath the pit, that's a great idea. I think we brought that up and we discussed that a while ago. And also, need, rather than have composting that maintains a larger amount of moisture, you need something that actually drains quicker. So you may want to have a seventy-thirty soil mix that actually has silica sand that actually drains.

So as the water table comes up and if they're salt tolerant, it'll actually drain with the gravel and the sand on it to be able to do something like that. Are there any other type of plants that you guys are considering? Because we have these plants that are green, but there's also low hedges, low flowering trees that would give a heck of a lot more color than they're not that much harder to maintain. They would probably grow in this area, giving it more of a eye candy appeal to the area. And people may not be looking at the weeds as much because they think that the bottom part is the greenery of the tree. And they're looking at the color of the plant. Have you guys considered something like that?

We've done an extensive look at other types of plants. And I believe one of the tree types that was discussed by Lisa Hammer when she was here was a green buttonwood, for example, related to a mangrove. It can handle subsurface water a lot better than most other tree types. But at the same time, finding that tree that meets the parameters that meets DOT's requirements for having a tree canopy height that has to be 14 feet above the road and a root ball that meets the size requirements that we need to still maintain the passing space on the backside of the

I got to tell you something. I don't mean to cut you off. When we did Hollywood Boulevard a few years ago, the trees that they planted in the center. This is the MPO that did the work with the FDOT because Hollywood Boulevard is FDOT Road. Every time I went in there with one of my trucks, all of my mirrors had to be on the other line because all of my mirrors were hitting this thing.

So none of them met the 14 foot clearance that, as you're saying, that it requires. So why are we worried about a 14 foot clearance on one project and not on the other? The residents of the beach and the residents of Hollywood that go to the beach, they're like, why does our piece of road have to look worse than anybody else? So, I get what you're saying regarding the clearance, but whenever they do a project, they don't adhere to that clearance. So now you're saying that we have to adhere to that clearance by having another tree that it's not going to be as fruitful as we can have it, just because of the growth spurt.

When we can actually trim some branches in order to give that clearance for that to take place. I'm not trying to give you a hard time. I'm just saying, I don't like when somebody says, we need to have this, when practicality is when you went down Hollywood Boulevard. Even today, a few years later, you go in there with a tow truck, you cannot be on that left lane because your mirrors are hit those trees.

And I understand that. And as you know, not every project's the same.

But the standards remain the same.

The standards do remain the same, and the approvals generally remain the same as well. The other aspect that we're looking at is trunk size, which is part of the reason for the spacing of the trees and the site visibility. We're limited to a trunk size for a mature trunk size. So when you plant a tree, for example, say it's a buttonwood, let's say it's pigeon plum or

something JOSHUA Let's say it's a pigeon plum. I like that tree.

JOSHUA we'd have to have a plant that would mature to less than the size of the trunk of, let's say, the Montgomery palm. Because that's the standard. What they're looking at is the site visibility and the picket fence effect of looking through trunks as you try and turn and merge onto the street?

I would like for the commission to see what a pigeon plum looks like. Because if you get a three inch caliber pigeon plum, you can actually shape that tree where it doesn't go into the and the arborist is here. He can concur or deny that. I've been there, done that.

Can you bring up a pigeon plum Pigeon plum, please. I already did on my phone.

This way, you can trim that tree We will pigeon plum. Where it never actually goes into the street. It could be pretty much there. And to me, pigeon plum grows at a slower pace than most of the others, and is not as invasive, and it's salt tolerant as well. So it's just something that we're looking at repeating the same thing again and again and again. And we'll continue to spend the money. At some point, we need to be able to graduate from the same things that we were doing. And I think that some of the ideas that we're doing here

You click on one of the images, please.

No, not. Click on the one.

The one with the tree showing.

With the tree showing. The other one. Right there, yeah. Perfect.

There you go. So we can certainly work with, see if we work with DOT, figure out which tree species we could replace with the pigeon plums and look to work those in. It would, as you said, require some pruning and maintenance to keep it off of the street and off of the sidewalk. But it's certainly an option.

I'm not trying to drive to one tree in particular. But my point is, there are some trees that are salt tolerant. They do have a canopy and do have shade. If anybody wants any foot traffic on those sidewalks during the summer, you need to have some kind of shade. And that's the only thing I'm doing. And if you trim those accordingly and you go between the branches and what have you, wind will go right through there.

So a question to Board member Hernandez's point, and maybe the arborist or yourself as landscape architect, would this tree work? Because obviously, we all clamored for it'd be beautiful to have shade trees. Would this tree work, given FDOT standards? And is this an option for us?

I think so. Do you want

to Sure.

Opinion on the Good morning.

Good morning. Just your name for the record, please.

JUSTIN Justin Rogers. So pigeon plum is one that I had given some consideration to also. It would be a challenge, but probably maintainable, to keep your roadway clearances. I think that's going to be the biggest challenge with pigeon plum. The other thing when you start getting into the hardwoods is the root systems of these trees. Pigeon plum is a relatively small growing tree, medium sized tree maybe. But next to a paver walkway, you're probably going to have more dislodging of pavers from the roots of a hardwood tree than from a palm tree. So that might then involve incorporating structural soils or deep root makes a SilvaCel system, which is a structural system that can go underneath the

JOSHUA Based on the drawings that I saw, it's already having the box in where it's about eight to 12 inches below where we're actually planting them, if you saw the same thing that we saw. So in other words

The other thing with the hardwood, too, I would recommend planting at grade. Because planting low, you're going have different guesses.

No, no, we're planting at grade. That was what we were talking about here. That's the purpose that I suggested the pigeon plumb, because number one, we're planting a grade. Number two, we already have the concrete box all the way around, eight to 12 inches below where we're actually planting. So the root system would have to travel through that. And they don't usually like going up on once they start going on the side, they just keep going on the side. Yeah, yeah. So that's the only reason why. Because you might not have seen the pictures, but some of the pictures that we saw when we actually dug those wells was that they were saturated with salt water.

I have seen those.

Oh, you have? Okay. So this is the reason why I'm going to a tree that's more hearty, has canopy to some degree. And the canopy could be manageable. Yes, it may take a little more maintenance. But if you compare it to have to remove the tree, redig everything else, and plant them again, once these guys hit the water table, you don't have to worry about watering them.

So are these available in a 14 foot clearance height and available and they would be compatible with the project? I mean, mentioned the risks of having pavers dislodged. That's a real risk. But how about, just for the sake of discussion, I mean, they even available?

It's a commonly available commercial plant. At that size spec, I would have to

check.

That would be a pricey tree at that size. But you could probably get it 12 to 14

JOSHUA feet, which is a little lower than that, and clear the bottom branches so the top branches will spread out.

JOSHUA mean, if the tree was successful, it would be beautiful to have canopy trees in that stretch. I would definitely say I think we all would agree and imagine that. What say you? Is this a total option that we could just pull the trigger on? Or are you advising us against it?

I think it's an option. I think that at planting, they're going to require some reduction pruning on the street side and probably a little bit of elevation pruning on the sidewalk side, depending on what size tree you source and install. If you do get into hardwoods, silver button wood, I think, is also another great option that you can use. A small growing tree, very salt tolerant, grows at the beach. There are a couple of hardwoods that you could mix out there.

How about leaf shedding? Would this shed leaves, or they don't shed? I'm just

JOSHUA They're all going to shed some leaves, yeah. I've never really truly paid attention to how deciduous a pigeon plum is, mostly because you just see them in parking lots, and they're not a big concern because they're so small, I guess. They're going to shed some leaves. I would have to look at if there's like a seasonal leaf drop like the live oaks have, or all of a sudden, you know, if you have live oaks, you're inundated with live oak leaves.

So thank you. So let's see if there's any follow-up discussion by members of the board regarding Boardman Hernandez's suggestion regarding this. But you still have the floor, Peter. Go ahead.

Yeah. And I'm just googling right now. Pigeon plum, they typically shed leaves in March, a normal process where the glassy, dark green foliage drops before quickly being replaced by new red growth, sudden or leaf. Sudden or excessive leaf drop, however, is often caused by overwatering, root rot, environmental stress, and the tree's sensitivity to wet soil. So the same thing that we were talking about. If we're looking to have a good draining soil, the tree will thrive on something like that. So it does have to be planted that great. And that's the reason also I was talking about if we could do a decorative curb around the well, which brings it another four inches or five inches.

I love that idea. You know, there's landscape edging is kind of what Borneo Hernandez is. It could be It could be made out of concrete. And it could be just a product that you put

on Correct. The

That would help the maintenance side of it and prevent what

And it gives it another four inches higher for him to be able to plant. I'm just saying, we need to try something outside of just the same thing again and again.

Exactly. So regarding the curb idea, we would need to bring that to DOT. This is their right of way, their approval. CLARKE: So we would need to figure out if that is something that we could do there at the roadside.

Yeah. And basically, it would be something that you could with a slope. And it would have to be designed or drawn before you show it to them or say just the idea that we want to do something Because like if you say something like that, they're going to see it as this is going to obstruct the pedestrian or so. But if you do it with a nice contour and then just basically hold the thing and it could only be four inches higher, don't think that it will be an issue when it comes to that. It would be decorative in nature.

It would hold the soil in place. And whatever other trees we decide to put in there, will probably thrive as well. And if we do something decorative, they may not even see the curve. So, and it's just how we present it. I'd rather take a little more time to look at the research and try to do something that we can do and then go with DOT. And I don't think that DOT is inflexible. I think that they will work with us, particularly if the product is something that it will enhance their right away as well.

The other reason why we weren't considering curbs is it actually shrinks the size of the tree pit. When you start to put a concrete curb, you're looking at four to six inches wide at the edge. So then you're either limiting your pedestrian space on the backside of the planter to less than four feet.

We don't want to do that.

Or you are creating a smaller tree pit that could be you know, two feet wide instead of three

feet The last pit we had was 32 inches. So this one is three feet by four feet. And if you take four inches around it, you're creating a larger pit than what we already had before.

No, you're shrinking it down.

What you use like a metal edge or a plastic edge?

Pardon?

A metal or a plastic straight edge?

Yeah, again, we'd have to look at products. There are certain things that DOT allows and does not allow in their right away. And so we would just again, I I can't don't think we commit to that, but I can We can certainly research it.

So Executive Egger, this is a presentation today. I know the work is going to be going on for months and potentially years ahead. What are we looking at in terms of timeline? I know this is kind of a heads up presentation, but where are we in the work? And we've made a suggestion to look at this pigeonplum. I think it's worth exploring. But where are we in the process to maybe just look at that?

Let me ask our deputy director, Susan Goldberg, who's been working on this project more closely.

So our contractor really is ready to start the work on A1A. They've completed most of the undergrounding. So they are getting ready to start the roadway work.

MICHAEL J.

Meaning the resurfacing and things?

No, not the resurfacing, but the sidewalks, the trees, the irrigation, the new light poles that are being installed. They they are ready to basically start on a one a. Now, we did get a variance to place these trees at the front of the sidewalk, which was quite a feat for us at the city to make sure that the trees kind of were like a buffer between the pedestrians. And we have a six lane with a median. Given the fact that we had a variance and I guess we don't want to hold up the contractor any longer because he has a schedule and we're trying to complete our projects Is the this

planting last? That's the last step, is putting in the trees?

The planting of the trees is, yeah, he would be putting the irrigation in now. I mean, one of the first things he'd be doing is So putting the irrigation lines if the tree pits are in the same location, he can at least start on the tree pits. I don't know what the tentative delay would be in talking to DOT about changing out species. And we might be able to get a better idea from our consultants once they start that discussion.

I think it's worth a discussion. I mean, I don't know how the rest of the board members feel.

I do. Pigeon plum is an approved tree for most municipalities and including the DOT. So I don't see that they would have an issue when it comes to that. They may not want to see it on Does the board want to

give an effort for the canopy trees, if we can introduce them? I'm getting nods of yes from So let's go ahead and explore this particular canopy tree or another you mentioned silver button wood as an example. But I think this would be beautiful there. So if permissible yeah, without delay. Let's go ahead to board member well, Gruber was first, so let me just call on him because he's been waiting patiently. Go ahead, Adam.

Can we pull up page 10, slide 10, again?

Sorry. That's a good slide.

So this picture to the left, what I'm looking at, that's what we're saying we're going to do?

Not linear like that. We have pits. This is a linear. Go ahead, Susan.

The design that we're looking at, this is a 10 foot wide sidewalk on the West Side of A1A North. What we're looking at in the South is because we're trying to do the planting where we have a minimum of a seven foot wide sidewalk. Most of them range between seven to eight seven and onetwo feet is we would be doing small planters, three feet by four feet, spaced 35 feet because of the sight lines that DOT requires. So it wouldn't be a long strip like this. It would be a tree planted at grade with ground cover. And then 35 feet away

Another tree. Okay. And the ground cover is going to be this ground cover that I'm look I I just I'm looking at this and I just don't like it. I I don't know. I don't I don't like what that looks like. Like, when you're talking about curb appeal, don't know what anybody else thinks.

That's not it.

It that's not that's not curb appeal. Yeah. So I don't, you know

Do you think the rubber surface would be better than the ground cover that doesn't

I think anything would be better than what I'm looking at. Like, I mean, it just it looks I don't know. It looks like a big long stretch of weed.

You've lived this for twenty years. Tell me.

So this is Green Island Ficus. I know that the landscape architect was looking at some other options of ground cover that would be attractive and easier to maintain. I don't think that they've defined DELL: the ground cover yet. But

Matt's a critical question, just in terms of the end How much room is there left after the root ball to really have successful ground cover and then maintenance and what have you? I don't know. Gruber?

And is it possible to do I always prefer something that flowers. So is there something that's hardy that could live and flowers as opposed to just green? Because the end of the day, people are going to walk by, they throw their garbage and we can clean it as much as we can, but every day, it's going have garbage in it. When things are flowering, like those hedges with those red flowers I don't know, I'm not an expert at it that you see everywhere. Those ones when you were growing up, used to pull out the little thing and suck the little honey out of it. Honeysuckle? Honeysuckle? Is that what it is? I don't know. So, I see a bunch of them. Yeah. Anything that would flower, you know, I prefer getting some nods from the crowd.

We'll go to the picture that has the wells on it. Different picture that has on the south side. Right? Keep going. This is what No. Back up, back up. This is what we're talking about if those could be flower because that's what it's gonna look like. But there's a picture that actually depicts the concrete around the pit. And that's what I'm looking for. If you can keep going.

The section, yeah.

Section. Oh.

Sorry, I didn't write down the number.

There we go.

Right there. Okay.

These are just like tree wells.

Got it. Got it. But even in the wells, if we could put something that flowers, personally, I would prefer that.

We can look into that. There's a very, very limited types of plants that flower at that size that'll survive the roadside areas

And it is like they that. Exist, right? So let's maybe we can take a look at those limited ones. You

could. Yeah. JOSEPH

So given the challenging environment there and those small delicate plants, I think you might be better off using annual flowers and doing a rotation where those get changed out a couple times a year. But maybe do that every fifth planting bed or something like that so you get your pops of color down the street. But you don't go it would be a pretty big cost to do every one of those four times a year, three or four times a year. But you could do maybe a couple pops of color here and there and then something more

I think dried and annuals would be the preferred way to go. But Joseph, I could see it on your face. Like, is it even possible that we'd be able to do that, Joseph?

He says all it takes is budget, city manager. Got it.

Or even if you do go with something perennial flowering, would still you've got your different beach daisies, and I think perennial peanut flowers. Or I know what flowers I think it's salt tolerant. But maybe spacing those out and going with the tried and true stuff for a good portion of it, and then some flowering pops of color, but knowing that those might have to get changed out every so often, even though they're perennial.

How about dwarf bougainvillea? Is that Thorny. JOSHUA Thorny

with people walking past it. Winter is the flowering season. Summer, it goes into just foliage production. That might work. Also, those you're probably going to need to find in like a three gallon plant, most likely, which is going to a 10 inches pot is going to be more of a challenge to plant in that area than the smaller stuff.

So if I can suggest if we're going to look into some possible options for trees, maybe we can look at some possible options for ground cover, that flower. All right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Let's go to conclude this item with Board Member Wiederman.

I could see staff is like, we're Monday morning quarterbacking this stuff. And we're a little late to the game, maybe. But my concern although I like the shade trees, my concern is that they're going to grow into the traffic and get hit by cars or whatever like that, although I think that shade trees will bring some kind of a slowing effect traffic calming effect, too, as opposed to the palm trees. But spaced out every 100, 150 feet is not going to create a whole lot of shade for the sidewalk. So I don't know if it's really beneficial.

As far as the flowering, colorful flowers, I think that maybe Commissioner Hernandez might have hit on something. Maybe we can find a company, do an RFP and have an outsour of a company that will change out those flowers. If it's going to be major labor to change out those flowers four times a year, maybe it's beneficial to have a company doing it, a landscape company doing it, or a leasing company, as opposed to having it as part of the workload on our limited public work staff.

I think one of the things, if I may, if you look for a project and I don't know if we already have this bid out or if we already have a contractor that if we do, then what one of the things that when you said sometimes we come late to the game, I just don't like being a rubber stamp here. We're getting a presentation

100%, I agree

with we're getting a presentation. And then when we have our input, then it becomes like we're fighting with them for our input, when in fact the input should have been ahead of time rather than to be

Peter, but let's remember, we did approve this a long while ago. And this is just a presentation to kind of update us. So we did have an opportunity to discuss And we all agreed that this was the direction.

We did. And when we approved it, we asked if we would have the information back before the next project comes up. And here we are with a project and it's already being told that this is what we're going to do. When in fact, we talked about putting gravel underneath the wells in order for them to drain, to talk about different plant trees to do something. Did you guys go through some kind of workshop that I didn't go through? Because what we're being presented is something that it's already being approved and talked to the DOT about. So they're just telling us what they're going to do. And our input, which is the same input that we get from the residents, by the way. It's not like we're trying to make things up. The residents are the ones that are telling us what they like to see because they travel and they see it in other parts of the state.

So that's the only question that I have. And regarding warranty, that's the first time that that comes up. But I like that idea. And in order to do that is you lease the plant. You want the live plant. If the plant is dead, they've got to come back and replace it. There used to be people that used to do that for inside offices and what have you. Maybe we can do something like that. It may not be available. But in this way, the one thing that I can see Joseph looking around like, Okay, I got my staff going to the max and now we want to do more money.

I don't think we want to generate more work for our staff. What we want to do is make sure that whoever does the maintenance, does the maintenance that they're supposed to do. Because it's a contractor that's supposed to do this And sometimes, we go to, as Commissioner Biederman says, to the lowest bidder. And the lowest bidder doesn't stand up to do what we expect them to do. So I think what we're looking for is we need to be able to do something that the beach residents can be proud of. And I don't think but the pictures that we were seeing, it's something that they're proud of, which I

So agree we've given direction for them to explore the pigeon plum or other canopy tree with DOT. They'll let us know how that comes back. We've given them direction to prefer to have flowering or decorative ground cover. I'd like for also you guys to explore the edging of the tree pits to prevent the creep into the sidewalk area, maybe even the last tile being like one that has a concrete lip.

They do that with coping on

Yeah, like a coping. Yeah, exactly.

See, this is the picture that I wanted because at the sidewalk, you can see that it's reinforced on both ends. That last paver next to the tree, that could have a little coping that

is That'll prevent mud and maybe some washout of the surface onto the sidewalk. I think we've given you enough to chew on and looking forward to just an update maybe in writing once hear back. And obviously, the project's ready to go. And so looking forward to a successful one. This will be a big upgrade to A1A, And it will look much nicer at the end of the day. And this is an exciting time. And we just would love for it to be as perfect as can be and easy to maintain as can be and as aesthetically pleasing. So thank you all so much. I think we've Sorry. Go ahead.

So while you're looking at the plum tree, whatever it was called pigeon plum? I should know that one. On Johnson Street and I brought this up at another tree workshop, but on Johnson Street, they have this yellow flowering tree, a yellow

SPEAKER Cabobouille?

Yeah, that's it. I think that is the most beautiful tree I've ever seen anywhere. And this might not be the right place for the right that tree, there's a right place for the right tree and whatever. But those if we could put those somewhere here, whatever, I think those are the most beautiful tree I've ever seen.

All right. We'll leave it at that. Most beautiful tree we've ever seen. And I agree, those yellow trees are beautiful. All right, thank you all so much. I know we've had an extended discussion, but because we're all passionate about the landscape. Thank you so much. All right, ladies and gentlemen. Let's now hash out the recommendation or presentation by Chris Cusciutto, project manager of the CRA regarding the feasibility of implementing a tot lot within the space that Keating Park has. City manager executive director, go ahead.

So I'll start this off, then I'll hand it over to Chris. If you'll recall, the CRA board had asked the CRA staff to look at some type of tot lot to be incorporated into the improvements at Keating Park. The CRA did obtain grant funding to do a new dog park there, to upgrade the restroom facilities, and to put in a couple of shade structure pavilions. And those improvements are complete. The parking lot area will be improved as part of the phase four streetscape.

And so we had presented a while back some different options. And the consensus at that time was that the board really wanted to see less costly options. And some of the things that were really driving those costs associated with this were the existing site conditions for the area that we were looking at initially for it. This is an area that has a 10% cross slope. There are some underground utilities running through this particular grassy area.

It is an area where we've installed some nice shade trees, thatch palms, and some sable palms and coconut palms. In that area, there's irrigation lines. So when we started looking at all the site work, the site work actually was the thing that was really driving the cost to put the playground structure, the tot lot, in this area. So staff began to look at the area that you see between the two pavilions. And we think that we've come up with a plan that essentially allows for the things that the commission was asking for. And with that, I will turn it over to Chris so that he can describe the tot lot.

You would go under that southern little pavilion that says restroom. And then you would actually have about six feet of space between the entrance to this proposed tot lot and the building structure. The items that you could essentially fit in there it's about 1,200 square feet that you would fence off and have a poured in place kind of rubbery surface. It would have this kind of little play structure that has a slide, some climbing elements. And then you could fit two other pieces of equipment that are known as sensory play.

It helps with socializing puzzles, gears, mazes, things of that nature. So you would have those smaller elements on the northeast corner of the little tot lot area. You could see those labeled as B and C. But the main structure would kind of just be that A piece of playground equipment. That roughly, all those elements, the fence, the port in place material, some of the demo and site work, along with the pieces of equipment, the benches, and some minor landscape, is roughly about $146,000 And then if you wanted the sensory pieces, that's roughly $15,000 if you're talking about material install and then some shop drawings that would need to go along with those

Thank you so much. CHRISTOPHER Sure. JOSHUA Chris, just with regards to the play surface, you mentioned the rubberized surface.

JOSHUA Yes.

JOSHUA I think, obviously, if the board wants to go forward with this, I would recommend a light color just to assist with a cooler surface. Even though I know that's probably specked and they talk about the heat, but it'd be better to have a light color to reduce temperature. But otherwise, this adds another feature to this park. And I know Board Member Shuhamy talked about the surrounding residents. And a lot of them are having babies. That's a great thing. And this will provide them with a place to play. Go ahead.

Well, I just want to thank staff. It was a hard puzzle to solve. And I think this does it. And exactly. And we want to encourage young families to purchase homes in this area. And I think this is a good addition and modest cost. My question is, would there be right now, within this orange dash area, that walkway would be gone, right? So would you be adding walkway around the rubberized play area?

And I know the drawing's a little tough to read, but that area where you have the dashed line, that's actually the west side of this actual bathroom structure. That's just showing you where the CCCAL is. You would walk kind of past the dog park that's on the south side. And in between the two roofed pavilions is where the entrance would be. So right there on the dashed orange line, right where that water fountain is, that's essentially where your entrance would

be.

Oh, I see.

I got We could essentially make a little bit of a three foot walkway, enlarging the walkway between the two pavilions. So that gives you about six feet to walk comfortably. And then you would have a six foot fence gate that you can walk right into

the JULIET looks

like we would be getting rid of some old shrubs there that need

some JULIET Potentially, there's some seed grape there that you can do a little bit of grubbing. But on the south and east side, proposing some minor landscape that you could kind of refill that in with. So that's something that we can also look at.

And then where these benches are going, the trees that are shown next to the benches, are those shade trees?

JAMES Yeah, they would be well, depending on what's in the area. I mean, we did a lot of tree relocation and irrigation when we were doing Keating Park. And that's why the landscape looks like it's thriving. We could potentially spec something like that. We could look at whatever

shade tree

could work there. But that was just kind of for illustration purposes. But we can look at some trees, that might hike the cost up slightly. But we can definitely look at that.

I think so. Because, you know, the drawing recognizes that parents are going to be sitting there watching their kids play, that A has a little bit of a shade cover, but B and C don't. So you're going to need people to be able to retreat into the shade there.

JAMES

Sure. So maybe we can look at some shade trees. And obviously, that'll tweak the cost slightly. But we can look at what the final number would be along with some shade trees.

I think it's a good addition.

Thank Sure. Thank you.

So real quick, think the right side of the drawing is east, right? And that's oceanfront?

Correct.

So I just imagine parents wanting to sit on the sand, the child wanting to run to play on the slide. So I'll just leave it to staff to consider maybe not having a hedge on the east side and rather maintaining visibility through that fence from people sitting on the beach and watching their children play. And also, I think for purposes of maintenance and just for the connectivity of the playground to the beach, you might want to consider not having a landscape edge on the east side. Just a thought. And then maybe consider, if

there's

space, a gate. I see only one gate on the west side. But if there's a gate to that sidewalk that leads to the beach on the top of the drawing where the CB area is or if what have you there's space, then maybe it'll cost us one of the features. So I'm not sure. But the idea that people are going to want to access this from the beach and maybe make it a little more easy to access is just something that I'm kind of seeing in the drawing and putting with you. So let's go to Board Member Hernandez for any comments.

Thank you, mayor. I like the idea of going to the east rather than the other side. That was genius. Can we go to the aerial picture, please?

Sure.

Because I'm going to talk about something outside of the park altogether. Right there. Perfect. Sure. Recently, we've gotten some pushback because there's no citywide permits allowed on this park anymore. Is that correct? City managers?

That's correct.

Okay. So years back, we talked about we considered doing a platform parking, whether it was one or two stories, basically with the roof parking in one floor in order to be able to do that. And the residents pushed back because they didn't want to see any parking like that. But let's say that if we do go back to the citywide permit or RPP program for some of the people that live there, do you guys think that we should consider, if the cost, if the return on the money is warranted, to provide something like that for the residents, for them to be able to have another car, or the visitors, or are other residents from other parts of the beach that would want to come to the beach? It's food for thought.

You're talking about the 2nd Floor.

A 2nd Floor. Yeah. Yeah.

So let's you can bring that up later. Let's just focus real quick, if we could, on this particular selection for the playground area.

I'm good with the selection.

Is that a

JAMES A motion to approve.

JAMES the presentation, executive director. So what's your plan?

JAMES So we were just wanting to make sure that the staff recommendation to move forward with this was accepted by the board. And we'll continue with the plan. And of course, based on the cost, we'll bring back any items that we need to. But this is something that we can fund within cost savings that we have from GREEN: other projects. Yeah,

don't

see an objection from the board.

Would you prefer that we approve up to $200,000 so that you have the trees that you need to do, the landscaping and what have you, so that when you can come back to us, you said this is what we're doing for YX, if you need to come back.

Sure. You are

We'll make a motion, we'll approve up to $200,000 for the project. All right.

We have a motion and a second to direct staff to bring back an item up to $200,000 concerning this playground. All those in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, you have a super majority walk on motion to authorize that dollar figure when it comes back.

Thank you. All right.

Thank you so much. All right. That concludes our regular agenda, ladies and gentlemen. So let's go ahead to informational reports, updating the CRA board on beach and downtown activities for the previous month. Executive Director?

Yes. There's really the informational report, there's just one item that I wanted to highlight on that. And that is we have a nice slide showing you the completed mural that went in at the American Legion Post. As you recall, this is the concept that was approved. The artist spent a couple of weeks out there and did a really great job. And the new mural The is in unsafe condition has been remedied. And I believe the American Legion folks are very happy with the new look. And it's really quite striking as you come across the bridge. And it turned out really nicely. So we wanted you to see that.

It looks really nice. I can't wait to see it in person. Very nice. Yeah. It has a nice depth to it on the color of the flowers. There's your flowers, Commissioner Gruber. Yeah. All right. Thank you so much. All right. Let's go ahead then. Two comments by the board members of the general counsel executive director, if any, today. It is 10:17, so we've got some time. Let's go ahead to board member Hernandez for any comments.

Thank you, mayor. Looking forward to the one way project being done and sidewalk ends being rectified, which I believe that the contractor said they would do at no cost. There was, at some point, a request if we could have any crosswalks marking throughout some of the areas that we work on so that people feel safer when they're crossing the street. If that could be incorporated, that would be great. Look, the people are happy with some of the changes that are taking place. And we just want to keep moving forward. Joseph, thank you for the lights that you've been able to fix. And I will always highlight that there are some more that need to be addressed. And I will make note of them. I also want to thank the city manager.

My understanding is that the light pole at one particular place that it was installed on somebody's private property, in the next few weeks, hopefully it will be removed from their property, generating another parking space for them. And I haven't said anything to them. Maybe they'll see the commission meeting and realize that it's happening. If not, I'm sure they will be pleasantly surprised when it takes place. I have nothing for other mayor. Thank you.

Thank you. Let's get to Vice Chair Colari for any comments. Let's go ahead to board member Gruber.

Nothing today.

Thank you. Let's go ahead to board member Biederman.

Nothing today.

Thank you. Board member Quintana.

Do I need to? I waive.

All right. Board member Shuham?

I waive.

And I will join you in waiving and just make one comment.

I waive. Sorry. I waive.

Thank you, Vice Chair Colari. I'll just make one comment that I had spoken with the executive director yesterday during my one on one regarding the efforts of C Med to attract tenancies to downtown. I know that's a top priority of the CRA board for this year. And I was updated with just some information about new restaurants that may have already just opened downtown, but also looking forward to new neighborhood services and other anchor tenants like we've discussed in combination with the CPIP program that we today approved in streamlining in our consent agenda. So looking forward to that success.

And perhaps executive director, that could be a continuous update during the informational reports. I think we want to keep track on that and keep staff focused on that economic opportunity and filling the storefronts downtown. Let's go ahead to general counsel for any comments.

No comments today. Thank you.

BOBBIRMER Hernandez wants to add. Go ahead. My

wife will never forgive me if I don't bring this up. So you must? I must. The parking garage that we're looking to do on the circle, is that something that the comment would be from the CRA?

CLARKE: Sure. Go ahead.

Okay. The one thing that she says, why don't you try to bring an anchor restaurant to the downtown? And I said, the feedback is we don't have enough parking. She says, you guys are thinking and considering to do residential on that parking lot. And there was some pushback because of management and what have you. What can we do a restaurant, one restaurant or two restaurants, on the Ground Floor or the 1st Floor of that parking garage? And parking will not be an issue. And you may be able to have a national anchor for something like that. It's something to consider. It was not my idea. Any restaurant. She didn't have a particular flavor or anything like that.

How about Seasons fifty two?

Well, that's fine. My point is, the one pushback that we get from the restaurants, the national restaurants or larger restaurant, is because they don't have enough parking. If we actually build a restaurant within the Ground Floor or the 1st Floor, you may be able to have two, where the parking is there and they can have valet, we can facilitate both.

So I would just ask The

food for thought. It's our idea. It's not mine. I'm not taking credit. I just wanted to bring it up because this way you have the parking availability for that restaurant and the resident that will come to park in the downtown.

Thank you. Noted. And this is a city project that is being managed by our parking administration, as well as DCM. So noted, and we'll make sure that that's working.

Thank you. Let's go ahead then. Executive director, any comments today?

No comments today.

All right. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you so much. We'll see everybody at 01:00 for City Commission.