Community Redevelopment Agency - Regular Meeting

Alright. Top of the morning, everyone. It is July. Alright? We're deep into the summer here. Welcome to Hollywood City Hall for a regular Deep. Community redevelopment agency. Meeting today is 07/02/2025. Let's rise for a pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America That is an amazing pledge right ahead of our, Independence Day celebration.

Roll call, please. Sorry. Hold on a second. Let me get back into being the, controller here. Go ahead.

I want you to start over. Okay. Board member Hernandez.

Let us know when he's on, and we'll acknowledge his, attendance, via Webex.

Board member Kalari? Here. Vice chair Quintana? Here. Board member Biedemann?

Here.

Board member Gruber?

Here.

Chair Levy?

Here. Alright. Thank you. Any conflict disclosures today? If not, let's go ahead with 10 citizens comments. I'm assuming we have at least one, and we have two. Bob, you're not alone. Bob Glickman, go ahead, and then Shelby Thomas. Doctor Shelby Thomas. Bob, welcome.

Mayor, sorry, commissioner Hernandez has just joined.

Alright. So clerk, please acknowledge the participation of commissioner Hernandez in attendance via Webex. Thank you. Bob, go ahead.

Good morning. Bob Glickman, Hollywood Beach. So I'd like to start off by wishing everybody a happy fourth of July. Great country. I'd like to at the last meeting, it was actually Commissioner Hernandez that brought up, again, the naming rights of Margaritaville. I've been bringing this up for more than five years. You know, a suggestion that I have for you is give it to a realtor. Let them market it for you. Let them put it on the MLS. You know, when we market on the beach, we put a drone up. We show the beach. We show the ocean. We can show the band show. We can show the crowds there. You have cameras there.

Let the this company that's gonna pay for the naming rights have their name on the camera that's always showing the beach. You know, you have CBRE later today that you have come here. I know you do business with them. Bring it up to them. You know, perhaps this is a way to go. You know, maybe we can get more than one company interested. You can have a rotating on the camera with their name. And it's on 20 all the time. I'd like to see us get money for this. I mean, really. I'm glad to see that the stick trees are being removed along A1A, all the dead ones.

I mean, were just horrible. The median work that's going in, it looks good. They got plantings. They have nice trees there. It makes a big difference. I know those are

It is a good thing. But what we do suggest is maybe cleaning with a metal brush. Just the art pieces monthly is what we're thinking now. Through the next few dives, I'm going to be getting a timestamp of how long it takes us to do it. We're going to just do it for now. That's completely legal. I think we're also going to turn that into a study in terms of how long does it take to regrow so we can get a better timescale. So it'll become an engaged research. It's something the community can help us with. It won't harm the reefs and we'll be doing everything protocol towards, you know, the environmental agencies.

Great. Great. And also with the buoys, if we could get those back in as as soon as possible, I learned the hard way. I went to McClellan Street to to snorkel and the buoys weren't there. And I was told or thought I knew where they were and the next thing I know, was like a half a mile out to sea going, what's going on here? And I never found them. So, if we ever thought someone would find them without buoys, it's never gonna happen. You can't even on a clear day, you have to be pretty close to see them. And if you're ten, fifteen feet off, you're just swimming out to sea. So, I mean, it's just a matter of the knot being tied better. It does seem like it

was Well, we're gonna recommend moorings for the future, so that's something that is anchored in a way that they won't move and also no one can disconnect them. So the buoys that are tied currently are more of a temporary buoy. They will hold, but sometimes people can move them or a storm can move them. I can report because we dove Site 1 And 2. Both of those buoys are at each of the sites. I'm gonna be diving Site 3 And 4 tomorrow and Friday, so I will also be bringing an extra buoy with me on that dive, so we'll secure it. But it is something that we're gonna have to consider for the future of having some kind of maintenance where if a buoy does go.

We might we might need Hollywood police to be stationary scuba to prevent the buoy bandit Buoy bandit. From, dis disconnecting buoys. Yeah.

Yeah. So in the future, the the moorings or whatever, but in the for now, if we could figure out just a better way to tie them, I mean.

Most definitely. And we're already working on signage, so, you know, so we want to just make sure all safety protocols are covered and that it's clear to the public on how to access. So, but happy people are coming from different states and counties. So, it's all going well and would love for you guys to continue to join us as well.

Thank you.

Awesome.

Thank you, Shelby.

Thank you, guys.

Commissioner Kuluri? Go ahead.

So I just just wanna say this is like really important, not only for our tourism. It's a draw. This is something really great and the research that you're saying. So I guess the question is, do you have someone that's gonna go out, yeah, to the reef to those, artificial reefs and document, like, on a monthly basis so that this can be actually a research benefit? You're doing that every month and documenting it.

And I think the engagement with the the community just in the city of Hollywood would really, really important because people follow sea life all the time, and it is a huge draw, for our tourism and for our environmentalists. So I think if we you know, we talk about putting cameras out at all these things. If you could just provide that information as, like, a ongoing

Yeah.

Thing. Yeah. You're gonna go out and dive, but you don't know what the weather is gonna be like. So it's hard to let people know, but maybe some live feeds or something of that nature that of your GoPro

Update. Researchable. Yep.

But kinda do it on a routine basis so that we could all see it as well. So it just creates even more synergy because I think this is such a benefit to the city and to RC life. So I I just wanna say thank you. I know that there has been some challenges, but, you know, I really see the positives that this all brings. So I I I I'm I'm excited to see where it goes from here.

Most definitely. And thank you for sharing that sentiment. We are absolutely planning and actually already underway on studies for recruitment. And actually, we have a completely volunteer monitoring team that consists of PhDs and master students that are volunteering their time for this project right now. We are applying for some grants to help with some more support.

So, you know, hence some of the programs and research so far, we haven't had as much time for organization just because we're such a small team. So as funding is acquired, we're going to be expanding and having a lot more organization to that. But really incredible research that is happening here. So the fact with you all taking this leadership in the city of Hollywood, really this will be a foundation of what will not only model but scale how we can do restoration not just in Florida but on all coastlines and even in The Caribbean. So we right now have a hydrodynamic study plan that won't kick start for a few months that will measure rate wave impacts and reduction from the structure hydrodynamics, a benthic study of how fast we're doing recruitment, and then we already started a fish recruitment study.

So we're doing counts and we can engage community as well but we have a smaller science team that's doing that research. We'll be publishing it, sharing it, and we'll also consider trying to do more updates where we can get more of that citizen science. We've worked with a nonprofit called Reef which is a monitoring protocol that will also publish on the website for anyone who wants to contribute anytime they come out to the site for reports. So we want to create that citizen science engagement and we're working on how to make that as publicly accessible and we'll communicate that with Joanne and the the media team for the city.

Shelby, last word. Just the coral planting as soon as legally and humanly possible. I think that's the real, you know, pop for all this. So for you and for us, even if you don't need I mean, you only are further okay if you can if you're once you're, you know, regulatorily able to put coral out there, please do so at least we have some sampling. And I'd love for that to happen before you come back in September if that's possible.

So we are gonna be just because through the summer months, it's actually the the highest temperatures for the water and we need time for a little bit more time for the grow out. We're currently working through some more of the community engagement permits with the Fish and Wildlife Commission. So we're working with Lisa Gregg who permits all of the coral out planting. So each day we go out and put corals. Every day has to be accounted for, every coral.

So we've been working through planning those logistics, but we would have to wait till after September just due to temperatures and even the growth that we're seeing. We want to make sure that there is a more of a stable curve of growth on those structures, but we are planning as soon as possible. And people actually were so excited with also putting out the spacer plugs for the coral locks. I mean, that's really been the most rewarding and blessing so far. Every time we've come out to the site, there's been people at the sites and people that have joined us who even was their very first time snorkeling and just screaming with joy and like, I got one.

And that honestly was just so rewarding. Project is bringing people in who have not even connected with the ocean and that's a really big part of it. They're getting curious from seeing the images of the art, now getting to see the fish live there, and so this is really creating that connection for community. Really excited.

Thank you.

More to come.

Susan, while we're on the subject, an update on the live cam at Keating.

The the the vendor who works the camera came to our offices on Monday and, found that when he unpacked and assembled the globe, the camera, the wiper, there was a wire that was messed up. So he's taken the camera to his shop. It's supposed to be back by next Monday. So we're working on that.

And what's the general time frame of expecting it to be placed in and operational? Is it a few weeks or

I I I don't I don't have a great idea right now. It's probably like a month. We we do have the cable that's already been placed on the beach. It's up until the lifeguard tower. We still have to water jet the cable from the, from the lifeguard tower to the reef. So, as as we have progress in the various stages, we will let you know. This is at Keating Park. Sorry. That's where the camera is going.

Yep. Okay. Alright. Thank you. Alright. Ladies and gentlemen, today's consent agenda includes items five through nine. These are items that don't usually require individual discussion. Do we have any comment cards on five through nine? We do not. I'll open the floor for a poll or a motion.

How do I how do I get to talk to you guys?

That's a good question, Peter. Whoever sees commissioner Hernandez, maybe you can do you have a, hand raise feature on your on on your dashboard there, Peter, or no?

Actually, I am using my cell phone at this time because the battery runs out so quickly on the iPad when we do the Webex, and I'm limited with the battery charge that I have here. But I just wanted to make a comment on on what was going on with the camera on the structures that we put out there.

Yeah.

If we have the ability to put a camera and we're working with nonprofits, we may be able to have those nonprofits benefit from that camera as well. So I I think it's a great project, and I just wanted to chime in on that. That's all. I just wanna make sure this is working.

Okay. Peter, when you want to speak, just audibly, you know, interrupt

Just say hey.

And and we'll we'll know that you're in the queue, so to speak, and we'll try to call on you as soon as possible since you're, by cell phone.

Oh, fair enough. I'll I'll I'll be I'm only chime in when I need to.

Would you like to second the consent agenda?

Absolutely. Second.

Alright. Now we can see you actually.

Chair.

So, chair,

prior to board member Hernandez, participating remotely, there needs to be a vote taken to allow him to participate remotely.

Motion to approve. Second.

All those in favor say

aye. Aye.

Any opposed? Hearing none. Motion carries. Alright. Alright. Let's go, we have five through nine, a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda. All those in favor, aye.

Aye. Aye.

Any opposed? Hearing none, those items carry unanimously. Onto our regular agenda, let's go ahead with a presentation on the follow-up on the beach CRA complete streets project regarding the tree replacement that Bob had talked about. Yep.

Mayor, vice mayor, and commissioners, thank you. Speaking of that subject on the A1A streetscape work north of Hollywood Boulevard up Sheridan Street, Kimley Horn will give us a presentation on that. The tree replacement, a few have made a comeback. Some are gonna have to be replaced and some closed in and we have a conflict on several. But Jonathan? Take it away.

You have twelve minutes.

Alright.

Just teasing.

We have a presentation to pull up. It's

Adam said he's got five. He's joking. Five minutes.

Alright. Good morning, everyone. We last came before you back in April to talk about kind of the status of where we had where the project was going, give a brief update what we're what's going on now. So as far as design goes, just to remind everyone, back in 2016, we started the design process for this project. We went through some variants and design submittals to DOT back in 2018 and 2019.

We had another plan revision back in 2020, 2022, and 2023. We've kind of settled on a design that includes the Montgomery Palms in the project in lieu of cabbage palms along the streetscape.

Think that way, Jonathan.

Oh, there we go. So the after we got started in planting, Burkhart Construction started planting process back in 2023. There was a phased implementation of the plantings along the streetscape, and you can see by this color coded map of the project how that was implemented. Started on the west side of the road, the northwest corner first, went to the Southwest and then went back up the street the other way with the completion being back in 2024. Our last presentation, we went through some of the reasons why a lot of the planting material has passed away or failed along the streetscape.

There were several storm events that had happened. There was some unnatural flooding that seemed to have happened along the street, some high wind events that were a little abnormal for the time. So some of the plants did not perish. But we did have 127 trees that were successful. So we have we're now dealing with the 50 plus trees that tree pits that we're trying to figure out a replacement for.

We showed you this map or a version of it back in April. We've been working on ways to implement based on Lisa Hammer's recommendation, our arborist that we brought in who was here as well last April. So this is the kind of the summary of where we are. We have with the red X's on here and I'll go little blow ups street or block with a few blocks at a time here in a second. We had 20 dead palm trees that we're trying to address.

Seven of those will be permanently eliminated from the project and the other 13, we've got an evaluation that we'd like to bring to you a little later in the presentation. The green X marks where we have identified palms that can be replaced. Those are in tree pits where we didn't have like observations of a lot of really bad flooding. We have a recommendation from our arborist on a planting detail and we've got we've actually started that implementation with Burkart very recently. We'll show you some photographs of that a little bit later.

And again, the 01/2027 trees that would remain as well as one new planting strip. So going into a little more detail with the blow ups, you'll see the green, the lighter green is where we're doing the replacement effort at this moment. The red X's on this particular sheet would not be replaced at this time, but there is groundwater monitoring effort that we'd like to discuss with you that we will look at potentially replacing those if conditions are deemed to be favorable. Again, this next block, one dead, majority were live in this section. A few had passed away.

We feel like those are safe to replace. As mentioned back in April, we were experiencing up and down the corridor various conditions. Didn't seem to make much sense. There's a lot of groundwater or subsurface conditions that we just didn't understand and we still really don't as far as what maybe structures are blocking water or retaining water in some of the areas where it's not. With this block, we have three trees that we'd like to evaluate.

We are this is the one existing planting strip that is along the west side of the road in front of the condominium across from Cleveland Street. With this section we have four dead palms on the west side that we're to reevaluate with this groundwater effort. With this slide, we have a new planting strip that's being implemented in front of another condo complex. This one will be bringing we'll be taking those trees up to the surface level of the sidewalk. Along the west side of the road, we have a little bit wider sidewalks.

We have a room to create that surface planter, and we'll show you a detail that we're doing for that as well. And then lastly, towards the north end of the project, this is where we're abutting, almost abutting the intercoastal. There's a lot of mangroves right on the other side of the sidewalk here. This sidewalk section is very narrow. In this section, these seven trees will be permanently eliminated from the project and going back to pavers in this area.

So some of the planting methods we're looking for the replacement we have with the green X. Most of them we're going to go back into grates, tree grates, with an additional stone layer at the bottom of the tree pit at the recommendation of our arborist. Some with the red X's at this moment will be repaved over, so it'll look like just regular sidewalk, like nothing was ever there. And then there's one new planting strip that looks like this one that's existing in front of the condominium complex kind of midway through the project. The detail that we're going back in with with the replanting effort has a layer of stone at the bottom of the tree pit.

You'll see it with that right under the root ball in that image to the left and to the right. Our arborist recommended this. She said this might help expel the water more quickly once it get you know, we can't really control groundwater coming from the bottom, but, you know, this extra layer of gravel may help dry out these pits a little faster, give these trees a better chance of survival in the future. And the same way with the surface planting strip. These will just be raised up.

You can see where that raising those plants up to the sidewalk level helps a little more in getting those root balls out of the wet zone underneath the ground. So we have 13 tree pits that we're looking at where we're not very confident in the conditions that are there right now. So we've got two options or basically three options. The first being we just eliminate those from the project completely and just pave over them and move on. Options and three involved monitoring the groundwater for six, eight months, figuring out what the fluctuations are, how bad it is in these certain areas and then making another evaluation on whether we should or should not going back to planting.

One option using a geotechnical engineer would be to install a eight to 10 foot deep well and monitor the conditions of the groundwater. This would have some instrumentation dropped into the well that would identify the salinity of the water. It would identify the depths of the water. We could do a remote telemetry option which would allow or transmit information by email with a monthly charge to do so. So you would have the ease of data collection and the CRA would get a copy of all that information as well.

The option we're not showing by graphic is just to drop a maybe a five foot deep PVC pipe with a cap on it in a couple areas and just have people go in and observe it, drop a basically like a dipstick into the hole to check the water levels. This wouldn't really count the salinity factor, but I think we're all fairly confident that the water is somewhat salty as it is. So this other option would be about the cheaper option with the PVC pipe and the we'll call it the dipstick would be about 5,000 less than $5,000 to implement over a six month monitoring period. This other option with the more the eight to 10 foot deep well and all the instrumentation would be around 7 to $8,000 per well depending on the number of wells. So if you did we did two wells, it might be $12,000, you know, one well might be eight.

So in summary, we had a 178 Palms altogether along the project, a 127 survived and are relatively thriving. We have 31 that have perished that will be replaced either in a new planting strip or in the planters with the new gravel detail. We had 20 palms that were dead, seven of which will be permanently abandoned, that's on the north end. 13 pits, you know, as we as I mentioned, we'd like to monitor the water as an option to see if we could replant back in there or just completely abandon them altogether. So again, the geotechnical monitoring could be optional if the board chooses to move forward with that option.

The tree replanting effort has begun. They have started this work and got some images of their work from the last few weeks. So this is some of that replacement effort, repaving over some of the tree pits on that north end and then some of the replanting effort of the new palms going in on the streetscape.

So Alright.

To summarize, last slide, we've have we've removed the dead trees at locations where the replanting is prohibitive. We covered those tree pits with pavers to match the sidewalk design. This task was completed in last week or this Monday. We've removed the dead trees and replaced them with tree grates with the stone layer. Nine trees have been replaced to date, I think as of this week.

The West Side tree replacement has been maximized by implementing the surface planting strip where possible. And we've accounted for, again, all the clear sight lines and matched our spacing that was already in our permitting with the project. We have an option on the table to do groundwater monitoring to see what we want to do with those other 13 tree pits with the goal of replacing the failed landscape material in its appropriate locations, you know, based on the health and the quality of the new landscape and considering, you know, all the constraints along the corridor that we've been dealing with. And that's the end of the presentation.

All right. So just to George and Susan. George, with regards to the, monitoring, is that something the CRA staff wants to us to, to just do for a one time to kinda learn and then take it from there? Susan?

Yeah. Try it.

There's value to have that geotech geotechnical element in there because that will really tell you about the salinity of the water and keep that gauge. It's and there'll also be, like, a constant readout for, that $4 and 50. I would I think it makes sense for one well. If we just put a PVC pipe in, which staff can obviously, come every every once or twice a week, it's it's like what Jonathan says. It's just like a dipstick. So all you're gonna do is go in there, you're gonna see water or water will come out, but you don't really know what it is because it could be rainwater, it could be this or that. So I think for the one well, it'll give us useful information, and I think it'll also provide direction on what we can do South Of Hollywood Boulevard.

Gotcha. Alright. Thank you. I'm happy to call on, commissioners. Commissioner Shuham?

Thank you, chair. So, commissioner Claire, was just saying when you say you maintain the widths, I'm assuming there's ADA compliance throughout as was requested. Susan, when you talk about doing this at one well, is that because the information collected will be able to benefit all of the wells with that condition? So do we think it's the same problem everywhere?

Certainly we have groupings in the North where we have an area where there might be three to five trees that have all repeatedly died. So we were thinking to do one of the wells would be in that area. That would provide us information and we can extrapolate that of you know it'll at least impact x number of treats that would be the most meaningful to potentially replace in the future.

And the data is either going to be nothing in the world could live here or here's a specie of species that could survive. Is that the goal?

I think it'll show us the fluctuation on the on the on the salinity. So if it's always at such a high level and there's always a ton of water there, that might be a big negative. But if it fluctuates where at certain times over the portion of six months, it's lower, we might be able to utilize that that gravel design that Lisa Hammer, the arborist had come up with because it might work there. But it doesn't make sense for us to invest the money and do it on those other tree pits when we really don't know what the level of water intrusion is.

Okay. So I I would support doing it in one location because, I mean, like you say, we've replaced these trees so many times now. It seems important to get an understanding whether we're just barking up the wrong tree, no pun intended, and wasting our time or if there's something that can be done. My question is, who's paying for all this? Is it under warranty? What if we do all of this and the trees die again? You know, we're relying on Kimberly Horn now to tell us what to do. So can you answer those questions? Who's bearing the cost and what if it doesn't work?

So there's a couple of different layers in that. I'll so the trees trees that died that might have died because they, you know, some tree there's always a certain percent of of trees within a 178 trees that come out that die. If the trees don't make it, they're under a warranty and so the landscaper will replace those trees. However, trees that we have put in twice in these areas of salinity that it's really not the fault of the nursery or the tree that, you know, we can't ask the contractor to replace it a third time. But we do have, funds in our contract, some contingencies that will cover the work that we've reviewed today.

I guess my question is, in these newly designed wells, if we bear that expense? And I guess are we bearing that expense to change out the configuration of the well?

The trees that we are replacing the trees that we are replacing now where we're using the different methodology in the planting, we are bearing the cost of that.

Right. So if that doesn't work, you know, are we bearing the cost of then going in and covering it up? Or we're relying on a design firm to tell us what to do to fix this ongoing problem. And my question is, if it doesn't work, why would we bear the cost of replacing those trees? Because we're relying on them to tell us how to fix this problem.

Well, as we're also battling nature and the conditions that, you know, that are here and they're giving us, I think, their best advice on how to potentially deal with it. I get what you're saying, but I think it's our I don't see how we can

I

mean I'm happy for the city attorney to chime in in terms of liability here or responsibility? Go ahead.

It would all depend on the actual contract terms that we had with the design firm. I'm not aware of the actual contract, so I need to review that first. But we could certainly put into the contract that liability would not be our own.

In terms of the success of the product, Susan, I mean, you tell me. I mean, I want to recoup any cost to commission trim just like you do. But practically speaking,

go guess to take it one step further. In those wells where you're making this suggestion to us, should we first do a similar test to what we're doing at these other wells? In other words, if we're bearing this cost with no assurances that's gonna be any better than it was, is there a way to monitor there first as well before we do this?

I think we've we've taken a really strong look at this project from a big picture looking at the weather patterns that have impacted all these trees since they were installed in 2024 or 2023 and 2024 until today. We have brought in an outside expert in Lisa Hammer, the arborist who's a local palm tree expert as far as looked at different species that we could bring back in, which think we discussed that back in April. There really is nothing out there that is like the perfect solution for this project. We've done the best we can with all the factors that are involved. And I think we've what we've done is we've looked at each block and how the replacement effort has happened over time and also looked at the groupings of trees and said, well, these trees have survived, but one in the middle hasn't.

That one probably passed away either it's been hit by a car, which several have. There it has had an issue with the high wind events that have been going on since those were planted or another factor. And so we've we have looked at it from a I guess a semi scientific way to try and figure out which ones were good. And that's why those 13 tree pits, we're just not confident with those. I think we're fairly confident with the other ones, the ones that we're doing the replanting effort now.

Okay. So it sounds like for those that you're confident about, you would be willing to, I mean, I'm assuming the contract does say you're responsible for the design recommendations to accomplish this. But we can, you know, I'm not I'm not crazed about it. I hear what the mayor's saying, but I just feel like we've, you know, keep going back again and again and again here.

I think that, this will be the final, like, test. Right, Susan? And beyond this, we're gonna decide whether trees you know, eliminating some pits and what have you further on. Right?

That's correct. So if if like Jonathan said, in groupings where the trees have done very well but one hasn't, we're gonna replace it because we think it has a good chance and it's gonna have a better chance with this planting material. If it dies again, we're gonna close it up and put pavers on. We we think we've really thoroughly exhausted all kinds of possibilities here. If you remember when Lisa Hammer was here, she said the one tree that would do well, this green buttonwood that has a beautiful big canopy and a nice big trunk and it could withstand salt water, you need like a fifteen, eighteen foot wide sidewalk to handle that. So Right. Given the constraints and this is the last go around.

Okay. And I love the way you say the tree passed away. That's all I have.

Anyone else on this? Otherwise, we will move on.

Mayor, if I may?

Go ahead. Commissioner Hernandez.

Thank you. One of the things there's a couple of variables here that we're not taking into consideration. One of them is the size of the pit. I know that there was some discrepancy with it. There were 24 inch inside to inside or 36 inch inside to inside.

I like to know the answer to that because I got a feeling that what we have is a 24 by 24 inside pit. And if you have a grouping of trees and one dies, it's not the soil. It happens to be the tree. But if you have a tree that is constantly underwater, which was one of the conditions and one of the things that I mentioned when it was there, that that water needs to be able to drain, and I'm glad the arborist recognized it needs to have gravel on the bottom for it to be able to drain, It has to do with the medium that is being planted on. So if we know that the area is constantly wet and it has the ability to surge up in water, we need to be able to have it drained.

But I also agree that if we're gonna spend $7,000 or $8,000 to have a monitoring well, how much is that tree worth? Are we putting a thousand dollar trees in there or are we putting a $10,000 tree in there? So we need to be able to weigh the cost of the of the method that we're trying to do versus the actual tree that we're putting in there. And with it, the tree will grow in a confined space that we have. Because that's one of the issues about the trees dying is, number one, the soil condition, the soil itself, and the space that it has to grow. It's not just whether the person that has given us the consulting is gonna be able to warranty that tree. There's a lot of variables to go into something like that.

So, Susan, I don't know if you wanna respond to I mean, we're spending dollars here for the aesthetic value and contribution of the tree. And commissioner Hernandez, we all agree that we don't want to, you know, continue investing in a in a in a lost cause, but we feel like this monitoring expense will be the final final sort of data point to decide, you know, to make firm decisions going forward with the data so we know if there's a solidity issue or not. The tree pit issue, if someone can respond to that. I know we had a a long conversation as he mentioned with regards to 24 versus 36. John?

Right. Back in back in April, we did discuss this. The tree pits have an opening of approximately 30 inches square where the where we're using the tree grates. And, you know, as Lisa Hammer discussed and noted, the minimum root ball size for the trees that we're specifying on here does comply and fit within that whole opening. And yes, they have had to deal with a bit of shaving on the root balls, but it's still within compliance of the floor degrades and standards for the root ball size for the trees we're specifying.

So if we were to just to just to kind of rehash, going to 36 would mean removing the pit, the concrete form, and and installing a new concrete form that is 36 by 36? I mean, the Burkhart people are

Well

nodding yes. Peter, I don't think we wanna undergo that expense. Right?

It also impacts

I I agree. I I don't I don't think we should go with something like that. I'm just saying if you have a tree that you shave in the root ball to plant a tree, you know that tree is not going to grow any more than the size that it is. The health condition is gonna be how much fertilizer you feed that tree and you maintaining at its current state.

Yeah.

So we're not planting a tree with any idea of thinking that it's gonna grow much more than what it is because we're not giving it the capability for it to grow because we're putting it into a space that it's not conducive for it to grow. So that that's my point. My point is whatever tree we put in there, what we're gonna have to do is if we get the right soil condition and we get the right drainage condition is to be able to fertilize that tree to the point to maintain it at where it is. Not to expect that tree to grow much more because we're not giving it the room for for it to do so. It doesn't have it.

That's number one. Number two, I agree about putting a well in there and finding out what kind of water it's the tree under because that's gonna be something that is gonna be helpful for all of the planting that we're gonna do along a one a. So I think that's I think that's money well spent, but we also have to look at the reality of the right tree in the right place because otherwise, we're not gonna be meeting our expectation. It's not a matter of the consultant's fault for giving us the information. Yeah. We may have the ability to do that, but the tree itself, we're not giving it the space for it to grow. That's and and I agree that the study has a huge value and that's what I'm putting in my two cents when it comes to this. Think we all want the same thing.

Yep. Alright. Well, I think thank you all for the comments. Thank you for the presentation. Thank you Susan for ad nauseam trying to figure all this out with the trees George. Yes. And we will hopefully get to a better place or a reality that is reality.

Yep. Yep.

Alright. Let's go ahead. Item 11 is a presentation regarding the update on the Harrison Street streetscape project.

So thank you, Mr. Chair, Vice Chair, and Board members. Just as we talked a little bit earlier about the Harrison streetscape work that we will produce similar results as has been done with the streetscape work on Hollywood Boulevard. Kirk Olney is here from Birmela Ajamil to give us an update on that.

Good morning. Kirk Olney, landscape architect with Birmela Ajamil, mayor, vice mayor, board members. Thank you so much for having me. Someone's going to have to help me out with this, though.

Nope.

So I'm here to talk to you about the street tree for Harrison Street. We came to you last spring and we talked about some ideas. And we, as requested, went back to the drawing board with some other ideas. So I'm here to do that. I'm going to give you a quick overview of the project with some of the illustrative graphics that we had prepared.

And then I'll talk about the tree that I'm suggesting and would be wonderful to have your feedback. So as we all recall, the corridor is Harrison Street from 21st to Young Circle. So these are some of the existing conditions. The project is to mimic, not match what we did on Hollywood Boulevard with the paving pattern and kind of update the look of the streetscape, keep the royal palms, but then replace legumes which have kind of lived their lifespan and are at the end of their life. This is the overall Lester master plan and we're going to zoom in so you can kind of see the overall plan.

Again, it's the paving pattern, keeping the Royal Palms, adding canopy trees, festoon lighting. This is a blow up of what the intersection come on, paving would look like with the crosswalks matching the paving patterns, concrete pavers. And then this is just further to the east over to 19th and then the last piece which is over to Young Circle. So this is just one of the illustrative renderings that we had done sort of vision for the project. This is the existing condition looking Northwest at 20th and then this is the illustrative rendering that we had presented last year.

It talks about all the different improvements, the paving, the lighting, the crosswalks and the landscape. And now we're going to get into talking about the specific trees, the replacements. These are the locations for this block. So this is the tree that we're suggesting which is a bridal veil. I want to bring your attention to the different sizes.

There's a nursery size, an adolescent size, and a mature size. The two pictures on the left, the nursery and adolescent, those are actually the trees that are planted on Hollywood Boulevard west of the tracks. I was involved in that project as well. The November 22 is a picture that I took in the nursery. And then June 25 is an actual tree on Holly Boulevard.

So you can kind of see the growth that has happened. The tree on the right is actually a bridal veil that we photoshopped into the streetscape. So you can kind of see the context of the vision for how we work with awnings. The question that I think that everybody's going to want to ask the board as well as the business owners and residents is, how big is that tree going to grow and what's going to be the impacts down the road. I do want to say that you can Google this and you can find much bigger versions of this tree anywhere, all over the place.

But what we're going to get is based upon the space that we have for the roots. So we're somewhat limited in that space. I think it's a six by six square. And so the tree is going to grow to that space and that's what it's going to live at. So it's kind of the bonsai effect.

I think I've mentioned previously, bonsais are small because they cut the roots off and put them in a small pot. So this is just kind of a scaled up version of that. So, you know, you can Google this and it's going to say it's a 50 by 50 tree. It is not going to grow 50 by 50 in a six by six square. So this tree is going to require minimal kind of trimming at the time of installation so that we can address some of signage and awning issues.

We did this with a landscape contractor for both parts of Hollywood Boulevard that I've been involved with. Met with the landscape contractor in the field and actually did selective trimming for signage and visibility. So this is another picture of Hollywood Boulevard with the actual tree photoshopped in. Sorry, what did I say? Sorry.

You guys are very, very good to me. I work on a lot of projects here. Harrison Street, apologies. So this tree will, once it's installed and established, it's going to get to a size where it's going to need to be routinely trimmed on an annual basis to let air and light through, strengthen the central leader. That's the little kind of trunk you see at the bottom. We want that because that's going to make it stronger for hurricanes and wind resistance. And the opening up and allowing air to flow through in light, it actually reduces the sail effect. The trees and the leaves combined create a sail. So when we do that, it allows air to flow through it. It's less likely to be damaged.

It's also going to allow the signs and the awning conflicts to be less visible and notable. Again, we don't want to trim more than 25 of the tree in a given year. Otherwise, we're basically eliminating its ability to feed on the sun, which is what it does. That's how it grows, but sunlight. Minimal leaf clutter in my opinion. There will be leaves. They will need to be routinely cleaned up or blown away. They are small leaves. I would say, I don't know, quarter of an inch. They are very small leaves.

But there's a lot of them. And they do continually regrow and defolate. That's just the natural process and that's going to happen continually throughout the year. It will require supplemental irrigation which is part of this project for rainfall. So that's essentially the presentation in the tree that we have selected for the project and we would love to hear your feedback.

Okay. And so the feedback request is specifically as to the tree. You only showed one option. I know green button was discussed but why was that just canceled or why did you prefer this one?

I prefer this one. We talked about it a lot. We had a lot of discussions and I actually have another slide of the green button wood just in case. But we feel that this has a growth rate that is going to be consistent with or conducive with the commercial nature of Harrison Street. And it can be maintained in that manner and still look like a tree. Some trees that when you do that, it looks like someone has taken a giant bite out of the side of the tree. This tree can be easily trimmed in that in that way Mhmm. And not look like that. So it looks like a shade tree and it's attractive.

And would you say that the growth rate, you know, she showed nursery and you showed now on on Hollywood Boulevard on the West Side here. I would say it looks pretty slow and steady. Slow growth rate, right?

I would say slow.

And do you anticipate buying the same Caliper tree and placing that here on Harrison Street, Susan, or or or for yourself? Or did you think to, are there even mature ones available or what is

It's a great question. So I did some checking before I came in to talk to you guys about it. And so there's not the quantities that we would want in a mature size. Right. We could get one or two and I think that from our perspective, the the street is gonna look better if they're more consistent. So it's probably gonna be in the smaller size. It's gonna be an investment that we're gonna have to grow into over time with this specific species.

I gotcha. Maybe we can, one day on the Sunset property, have a, you know, invisible nursery and growing certain species that we have around the city and be able to to use them, kind of a nursery. Let's go to commissioner Gruber.

Thank you. Can you go to page 17?

I don't know the numbers, sir. Can you

One more.

I don't think the numbers are

No. Maybe one more back. Back. Back. Yeah. Back. Forward. You had gotten to 18. I

think the nursery shot.

No. There there was one on the corner. That's 18. That's 17? No. I think it's the intersection It's the intersection shot. Yes.

Oh. No. It's towards the beginning. Yes.

Oh, know I got it wrong. Was another intersection shop, but that works. So I know this is just trees, but on these corners, and this is a rendering of what it will look like, is there any way to do I'm not crazy about, what's going as that filler on the corner. Like, can we do something like that flowers? Like, which looks did you yeah. Like and this ends up growing in. People throw garbage in it. I've just seen so many, like, medians and landscaping in different cities where there's, you know, flowering plants as opposed to this just thick dense bush.

Takes more maintenance and better control of water. I mean, there's limits limits in Florida with flowers, but go ahead.

Yeah. I don't think we want to do seasonal annuals. That's a

very Not seasonal. Not seasonal, but something

Yeah.

We can definitely look at that. I obviously was kind of focused on the tree and I don't actually know off the top of my head. I think we're doing more kind of vegetation than flowers, but we can definitely look at that. I do want to note that we really can't do anything vertical in those corners because of the visibility.

I'm not looking for vertical, I'm looking for color. But that could be just me. Mean, my colleagues might think

It'd be beautiful to have flowers there. Mean, maybe if we can maintain perennials and annuals and all that good stuff and have some, what do you call the usual ones, the impatiens, the sun patients and things like that. And if cheap enough to do in house, then I think that's not

a bad idea. Yeah. I'd love to see in the future some options. Egonias or whatever, right? Yeah. Because those intersections, there's a lot of eyes on that. Driving by, walking by, then I I think I we could do better. I gotcha. Yep. Alright.

Let's let's chew on that.

K.

Alright. Okay. Thank you.

Commissioner Hernandez, anything before we close out?

No. I think you guys have covered it.

Alright. Thank you for the presentation. Looking forward, I think we're in agreement that the species you selected on the on the tree sounds sensible and and looking forward to it.

Very good. Thank you.

Alright. Okay. Alright. Ladies and gentlemen, on to our

number 12

next item. Item 12 is a resolution of the CRA approving and authorizing an amendment to the contract with Burkhart for the Harrison Street streetscape project and issuing a change order and an amount up to 834 k and change that includes a direct purchase of construction materials by the CRA in an estimated amount of 389 k and change and where the cost will go from 5,500,000.0 and change to 6,300,000.0 and change. George?

Mister mister chair, yeah, this is consistent with our earlier discussion about the additional bollards on the Harrison Street project and, the details that we already saw earlier. Yep.

Alright. I'll entertain a motion on this for discussion. Commissioner Schum?

Yeah. Motion to approve.

Second from commissioner Gruber. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, I Aye. You said aye or nay?

Nay.

That's a that's a no? That's

a no. Yes.

Okay. Alright. Motion carries six to one with commissioner Hernandez as a no. Alright. Item 13 is a resolution of the CRA approving authorizing CRA to urge issue a purchase order for the purchase of bollards from Landscape Forms Inc. In an amount up to 45,000 and change and issuing a purchase order for the purchase of bollards from Barrier One Systems in an amount up to 126 k and change in accordance with our procurement code as a best interest item. Commissioner Schuham?

Motion to approve.

Commissioner Kaleri?

Second.

We have a motion and a second to approve. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

Hearing none, motion carries unanimously. Item 14 is resolution of the CRA approving authorizing the CRA to amend the completion date of the property improvement program grant agreement with Hollywood twenty six LLC for on-site improvements to the properties located at 2024 And 2026 Hollywood Boulevard. This is in order to give them time to get through historic preservation approval, which is will be happening this month and we all celebrated what this will look like and happy that the applicant is hanging on while this is taking longer than than, you know, he and all of us would have wanted. So, I'll entertain a motion to approve 14.

Motion to approve.

Motion from commissioner Clary to approve. Second from commissioner Schuham. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye.

Aye. Aye.

Any opposed? Hearing none. Motion carries unanimously for 14. Alright. On to our final item. This is an informational report from the CRA executive director on updates to the beach and downtown activities of the previous month. George.

Thank you, mister chair, vice chair, and and board members. A few items here, and then I'm sure Susan might have some additional ones she wants to get into. I did have a phone call conversation with FP and L and Baldwin English, referenced some of our earlier discussions about service and timelines. And we had a very positive, productive discussion. He fully appreciates and understands the concerns, was very apologetic about the Sunday, Father's Day issue, power outage, and how that all came down and pledged to certainly continue to work to make that earlier.

He said they're going through some changes in terms of the organization and staffing and their approach and has a new manager that will that is already starting in in our area that will include Hollywood and requested a direct meeting with a number of us. So we will be doing that in the near future. We're setting up that time in the coming next couple of weeks now and go through some of those issues, both big and small, public and private, that we've talked about before. And hopefully we will be able to get to a point where we're not experiencing those kind of delays or service interruptions and I felt more confident in that after the discussion than before. So hopefully that yields some good results.

A couple of other projects, the Art and Culture Center is moving along well and timely now after we got past some delays there. And we're looking for a TCO probably by August and that will be certainly a major feature and anchor especially with some of the new external features that are incorporating the old and the new there. And speaking of downtown, the fence for Arts Park, which has been experiencing some delays as well. We've been going back and forth with the fabricator and some of the code issues and the plan review we think we've just about got that resolved now and we'll get that production going and should be completed in about four months.

Okay

so that's good Susan if you had some additional ones you want to add.

Just a couple of things. So our East West streetscape work is progressing on schedule and the work at Keating Park is progressing on schedule. We pretty much finished with the bathrooms. They really look great compared to what they looked looked at before. We're getting ready to put the stone on the facade. The pavilions already have the roof roofs on them. And what we're working on next is the fencing for the for the dog park. So that project is looking very, very good in case you drive through there.

Great. Thank you. Alright. That concludes the informational reports. Let's go on to any comments by the board members, general counsel, executive director. Let's go ahead with board member Biederman. Alright. Board member Biederman waves. Vice chair Quintana.

Thank you, chair. I just it caught my attention when mister Glickman was talking about additional island medians with underground water storage. I mean, I think that's a really good suggestion or anything like that where we can add additional I mean, some green infrastructure maybe in ways that we might be able to absorb water, I think that's good investment of the money that's available anywhere we can do that. Thank you. That's it.

Thank you. Let's go to board member Shuham.

Thank you, chair. Certainly, you know, we I know we've looked at those medians many times to also increase the retreat area and allow us, more opportunities for crosswalk. So I don't know if it's something that's even close to what we have left in that budget, but it does sound like something good to look at. For me, more important or as importantly as the water is to increase the opportunity for those crosswalks. Susan, I want to thank you for the work that you did on these projects on Harrison, you and your staff on Harrison and on Hollywood Boulevard.

It looked like it was quite a bit of work, and the effort really showed. So thank you. And thank you for Keating. I have not peeked into that bathroom, but I'm anxious too. And I know the public's going to be thrilled because it was really icky.

I wanted to adjust on George's Point, F P And L. I took a tour. Joseph Kroll and I had a late night date, so we needed it to be dark. And there are several areas of frustration with FP and L George that he is more than aware of. So I just wanted to confirm that he's going to be with you at that meeting.

Yes. Be happy to take all several interested parties.

Yes. Make sure Joseph's there. Thank you. And this is something I'm gonna bring up this afternoon because I think it's more of a city issue. But as on the beach where we are and and Jovan's office is enforcing our single use plastic requirements in our cafe zones, which are public property. I don't get the sense that that is happening downtown. So, you know, even though it's a CRA location, I understand that the city staff is who handles the licensing for those cafe areas. Just wanna make sure that the ordinances are that are in place for city property are being enforced in those cafe zones in an appropriate way.

Reinforce that message. Yep.

Okay. And just, you know, want to wish my colleagues a nice recess. It seems like the recess shrinks every year that goes by. And wish everyone a happy fourth, and we'll see if the weather holds for all of our festivities. So thank you so much.

Thank you. Let's go to board member Hernandez.

Good afternoon, mayor, and thank you. This last Friday, my wife and I went to dinner at the downtown, and we ran into some issues with the valet operators. I'm not sure that the owner of the valet company knows exactly what their operators are doing. I think at some point we may want to revisit their staging areas. It it was not a pleasant experience, and I can just see them abusing the areas that we have for the residents and the visitors to park.

They're actually using it to park their valet vehicles plus whatever area they have. So it's kind of productive to some degree. But on a positive note, I did have a conversation with Mr. Baldwin as well. He was apologetic and he's looking forward to better days. And he has a great deal of expectation with the new manager that it's coming in. And that's it for me.

Thank you. Board member Kuleri. Oh, commissioner Biederman, did you have something? Go ahead.

I just wanna touch base on something that commissioner Xuan brought up during her comments. Our prohibition on single use plastics is not an ordinance. It's a aspirational resolution. And we, I don't believe we included public right of ways. We included parks, the beach, and city facilities.

So I would hate to, encumber our, restaurants from having to meet a high standard of what what you just brought up. I'm concerned with creating that, although I'm sure most of them use traditional metal utensils. I I I would hate to create another hurdle that we can't enforce.

Alright. Well, think just in the spirit of just review, I think he makes a good point, so let's just remind us of what the language is. You know, you can send us a copy of it, and I think he might be on to that limitation. So thanks. Alright. Let's go on to commissioner Clari.

Yeah. Just a couple of things. I I I've been driving down to the beach, quite frequently, and I'm really happy to see that the bridge is getting pressure cleaned. I I saw them yesterday painting the pillars, on the west portion of the bridge. But then when you get on the north portion of the bridge, it is this terrible, terrible, terrible. So I'm hoping they're gonna pressure clean that as well. And that's in the works. Correct? Yes. Oh, yes. Okay. Good. But it looks great, and they're working on it. So thank thanks for that. Hopefully I I don't know if we're gonna have a presentation or if we're gonna have anything slide up or if it's on the web because I really haven't looked regarding the traffic for fourth of July, how it's going to work.

Is it the same? And do we have that up on the web for everyone to know for this coming weekend?

Yes. I don't know if we have these are the showing on the web already?

I mean, it's on the social media that I saw.

And I think we really need to blast that.

We can talk about it today at the commission meeting if if you like to.

I mean, I don't know how many people tune in and watch the meeting, but I think that we really need to blast it. I peruse, you know, Facebook not all the time, but I see it out there. I know the mayor is very diligent with his Instagram posts, social media guru over here. The only thing that I haven't seen is the traffic, layout. So we have a lot of visitors. Yes. It's gonna it's, supposed to be rainy, but I'd rather be safe and just let everyone know the way it goes. So if we could just kinda push that a little bit more. And then, you know, I'm gonna bring it up, and I don't know if Raelan is ready, but I'm gonna bring it up, is the Margaritaville, canvas. That's nothing there now. It's completely white.

Raelin, could you update us on the graphic replacement on Margaritaville?

On Margaritaville building.

Oh, she means in the oh, you mean the corners of the garage?

On a, one a. So it's complete I mean, is like one of our draws. And I just it's so frustrated. But I know that we've been talking, so I don't know if you can update us.

Sure. Earlier in the week, I did send each of you the imagery. There was a tropical image that was printed on a canvas that was mounted on the west elevation of Margaritaville, essentially over the doorway opening or the main entrance to the resort. Over the years, that imagery, as you point out, has faded. And they are ready to undertake the maintenance that's needed to replace that canvas.

Their overall ownership group has approved a new image that is also tropical in nature. It is a parrot, a blue and gold macaw that's sort of in flight with a little bit of a tropical background. And if it is the goal of the commission to approve that image that was sent to all of you, I think if you wanted to officially recognize that in an action today, that would be helpful for

Can the

image be brought up on the screen?

I think it actually would need to be under a city commission item, actually. So it may be something that you want to bring up under your notes or under your notes in the city commission. And at that point, I'll have the image. I'm sorry, I didn't prepare for this meeting. But I'll have the image so that you can all take a look at it. Okay?

Awesome. And then the last thing that I'm not with that. Thank you so much. I'm so excited that that's gonna actually

I will point out, I don't know that that's necessary, but certainly a public approval by all of you will help to expedite this. Yes, we'll call it a public celebration. It's a really nice image. And it fits with the color of

property. Yes.

So we'll bring that up at the meeting. Thank you so much. And then the last thing is safety, obviously, on the July 4, especially on the beach. Hopefully, today, also, we can ask, just an update on police to, you know, give a message regarding safety and, extracurricular activity that we

Firework safety.

Not firework safety, all of those things. I mean, we just have to be so cognizant of our safety and our health. So and I wish everyone a great fourth of July, that's all I have.

Alright. Just a quick kudos to fire and police and city social media all sharing that firework safety message and all that. We really stepped it up on all levels, from of our outreach on social media. It's kind of the prime way to connect with people, it seems, these days. Alright. Let's go to

It's you.

Board member Gruber. Yes, sir. Go ahead.

Thank you very much. Not much. I wanted to touch on the reefs and the buoys, and we did that when Shelby was here. Also was at the Maxi Priest, show Saturday night. Great attendance. Just amazing. I ran into a bunch of different people that I grew up with down here, and they were all giving such kudos to what downtown looks like compared to what it used to look like when we grew up down here. So, you know, kudos to all the efforts of staff and everyone that's made that happen, and it was a good feeling to get those compliments. And with that, I'll just wish everyone a happy July 4, and have a great summer.

Thank you. Alright. I'll close it out. So obviously excited about the the continuing movement on the Harrison Streetscape that the board initiated some time ago, all in a good direction. The Boulevard Streetscape is certainly successful.

Want to just prod as we are here in the mid year with some time with one less meeting in August and in July for the permit processing for downtown. That's obviously continues to be very important, George. So thank you for your work on, you know, having a great targeted spirit on the importance of those storefronts moving along. I know they're going so far as scheduling additional HPB meetings to facilitate that, so thank you. There are gonna be some exciting business openings with some that are under construction right now in the months ahead.

Also exciting is the upcoming, hopefully TCO, I read for the bread building that kind of is in the off is in the close horizon. That'll be great to bring more people living downtown. The art and culture center, you had mentioned George, just all these elements are kind of coming together. Yesterday, Ray Lynn and I were invited to present to realtors at the Cirque residences. And, you know, they, you know, were excited to hear and get a grasp themselves because they have to, you know, pitch Hollywood and tell people about Hollywood, people that are, you know, looking and are interested in possibly buying a condominium downtown from another country.

And so we gave them a great big picture, they all left very excited about, you know, what we have in store, what the resort sort of lifestyle that downtown in Hollywood offers to, you know, potential new residents. And so that's exciting, together with One Hollywood that is marketing its condominiums, a very luxury building. Alta Condominiums, Alta of course you all know looks like they're converting to condominium and will be I guess coming to the city for those minor enhancements to their building to make that happen. So a lot of good things are happening. I think a lot of people used to comment about so many rental apartments.

Well here we are, we have three projects, Cirque, One Hollywood, and Alta that we're bringing purchase opportunities to downtown. It seems like the market is really taking care of itself and of course we have a responsibility to help with the city's best foot forward to make sure that the lure of those condominiums are are very desirable and successful for those that are taking the initiative to construct those new homes. To that end, I think it'd be great to have, to the extent we can, Joanne or Susan, The La Piazza project is gonna be a magnificent and huge addition to the downtown. It's really gonna impact in a positive way the the entry and the stature of downtown. I don't know when the construction is set to begin, but in the meantime, maybe there could be something at the Leopiatsa Building or the windows that could say this is what's coming soon.

Right now, since the businesses have all closed to make way for demolition, I don't know how soon the demolition is going to be or when a when a, a perimeter fence is going up, but maybe you can kind of connect with estate companies and coordinate any promotional heads up, so people know what's going on and they don't just drive by a building and say, Wow, look there's a whole building that's empty here because it's for a reason. So for that, let's do that. Also, as we head into the summer break, let's try to make some progress on the cellular signal boosters and whatever is needed for downtown, for people to be able to share their enjoyment of downtown and just have it be a business lunch friendly environment. We need cell phones to work on the boulevard. They don't.

And we really need to I think even if we have an opportunity to place boosters on our poles, as we mentioned before, like the festoon lighting poles or whatever we need, you know, even if we needed to facilitate rooftop locations somehow, let's do everything we can to put some boosters even if they say it's not needed, we know it's needed, and if we need to spend, you know, a few thousand dollars to put boosters in for each of the main providers, Verizon, T Mobile, AT and T, then, I'd like for us to do that. It's, been a recurring issue. And to that end, downtown's transition from the TIF CRA to the non TIF CRA, I think we ought to commemorate the end of these thirty years. So somewhere in the calendar of of the fall of this year as as that time comes to an end, let's let's organize a a celebration, an event to commemorate this point in time. Let's invite all the county commissioners.

Let's invite, you know, all our partners, the community, and let's have an opportunity to, as commissioner Gruber mentioned, celebrate the point in which downtown is today. We've really, I think, done a good job of of executing on that master plan and bringing forward its its recommendations in every respect, whether it's the downtown historic segment and the streetscape, all the buildings that were called for around the young circle. We're really in the train station that's coming. Let's invite everybody and put a good emphasis on a reminder for everyone on on downtown's success and all of that's ahead. So if we can create a nice event in the downtown and invite, you know, everyone we can from around our county, I think it'll be a moment of pride and ought to be and and should be, and a lot of them don't have an opportunity to see it, especially those county commissioners that represent the north half of the county.

Let's invite them and show them what their investment has been because the economic return is is, you know, very much a success for the county as much as it is the city. Alright. So to that end, George, thank you so much. Looking forward to transition plans, discussions, recommendations on how executive staff sees us moving forward with regards to the TIFF list continuation for five years at least for downtown. So that's it for me. Let's go ahead to general counsel if anything today.

No comments today. Thank you.

Executive director.

So thank you, mister chair, vice chair, and board members. That's amazing as you're talking about the Downtown CRA District and some of us were here when in 7980 the work was done to originally create the district and the first base year and to see where it started in the condition that it was in and then to actually be here and see where it's matured and grown to and progressed all these, you know, decades later is it's remarkable and it's it's something that many of us never thought would ever, you know, happen and we would get to this point. So thank you for everybody's support and work in in getting to this point because it it truly is amazing. I've had many people tell me that they've come back to visit that hadn't been here for years and they were stunned at the amount of improvement and change in progress for downtown and the beach and it's just in the community overall especially we're seeing a lot of the new infrastructure work that's happening. So it's rewarding to actually see those things and those investments because you really never know if they're going to take and and make an impact.

Some communities spend a lot of time, energy, and money doing those things and they don't take off. And you can see the impact on the market here. It really has had a positive effect. So thank you for that. And a special thank you to Susan and Francisco for a lot of their work that we talked about earlier in terms of Downtown Hollywood Boulevard and streetscape and the Ballard.

Know, that speaking of expediting things to make things move along on that important work that we discussed earlier this morning and save money and time on it. Susan and Francisco did a lot of extra work on design work. I want to thank them for that. Much, much appreciated. And we we take to heart seriously as that work progresses, the impacts that it potentially has on the businesses there. So we will work closely with the businesses to make sure that the timing and staging and is a tailored you know surgical kind of effect so that that's the priority and we don't damage that that we're trying to help along the way and we'll bring that to you as we go forward too. So thank you.

Alright. Thank you George. Thank you everyone. This meeting is adjourned and we will see you at for one the city commission meeting.

I like to wish everybody a happy and a healthy fourth of July.

Amen from all of us too. Alright. Thank you, Peter. See you at 01:00. Will do.