Environmental Advisory Board - Regular Meeting

Monday, 11/03/2025, calling to order this meeting of the Environmental Advisory Board. Roll call. Paul Drackeman.

Tim Drum.

Casey McGowan. Jess Gahick.

Stephan Califf, board liaison.

Okay. Let's do the pledge.

Comment? Hey. Hey.

How y'all doing? Good evening. This is my last official meeting. If I was still on the board, this would've been the end of my eight year term. Okay?

I have an issue that I would like to bring board as it relates to a piece of property that's, on 41 West of the Old Winn Dixie between that and the Miocatchee Creek. That area is already let me let me give you a little background. The owner of the property requested that the commission, right, redesignate that property conservation. One of the reasons was that it is within the manatee protection zone. It is adjacent to the creek, which is in the conservation overlay zone.

Right? And it is in the FEMA class a flood zone. Okay? City commission had an initial reading where they approved not changing that designation to that piece of property. I believe that's a total disservice to the community.

Right? The sad part is that it's already had first reading and will be going to second. I don't know exactly the time frame. But I see that picture property being more like the Johnson Park on 41 and and River Road, right, adjacent across from Deer Prairie Creek or not Deer Prairie, but in that area, right? It appears to be more suited to that than, as I said, they're so fixated on economic development, they consider that a prime piece of property for economic development.

But it's also a prime piece of property for conservation protection.

I don't have it on my notes, but for here, but we had discussed that at the Parks and Recreation. Actually, that that property going to Parks and Rec.

The commission's already had first reason the greeting denying the conservation, which is which is the reason I'm here. Yeah. Because I do not believe this board has any or has had any input on that piece of property prior to the commission's decision to not rezone it to conservation. And and keep in mind, the property owner petitioned for it to be conservation. Thank you. And God bless you.

Mister English? Yes, sir. Just to confirm, is this the property that you're talking about?

Yep. The one yes, sir. That's it.

Just to make sure that the board members can measure

Thank you very much. You're welcome,

Okay. Any other public comment?

No. Sorry.

That's all right. Great. Okay. Approval of 100 item 252,052 approve the 10/06/2025, EAB meeting minutes.

Were we supposed to have any discussion on what he brought up now or later at point in the meeting?

I'm going to. I didn't think we could respond to public comment.

I'd love to. Understanding is part of the public comment. We we would just hear it and then eventually have a discussion or have an agenda. Ideally, it needs to be done through an agenda item. And I wanted to inform the members that, thankfully, we have a related agenda item coming up as part of this presentation that relates to land acquisition. So you can either discuss it then or you would like to you can propose this item as a future agenda item that I can then create.

All right. So are we Okay with talking about it during the land acquisition piece? Yes. Jessica, you all right with that, Paul?

Yes, sir.

Let's do that. Is that all right with you, sir?

Absolutely. Great. Yep. Super.

Thank you. I wasn't sure what the yeah. Okay. So let's go back to approval of minutes. 25Dash2952. Approve the meeting minutes in a motion. I approve motion

motion to approve the minutes from October.

Second.

Great. All in favor?

Aye. Aye.

Aye. It's unanimous. Okay. Presentations 20 five-three thousand and four. Presentation and discussion regarding environmental policy and tree mitigation process in Northport.

Yeah. Thank you, Chair. So thought that it would be a good opportunity to share this presentation Just to make sure, can everyone hear me okay? So I will go over briefly through the environmental policy and our tree mitigation process. Now about our tree protection regulations, these follow the Unified Road Development Code or ULDC.

'21, comprehensive plan of the 20 city and the twenty twenty twenty two-twenty twenty five strategic vision plan. The process has been refined throughout ongoing updates and adjustments over time. Significant revisions have been adopted to the Unified Land Development Code in 2022 and 2024, most recently. The process is designed to provide financial incentives for developers to preserve

have do And

of that plan, outlines that the city shall protect, conserve, and enhance its natural environmental and historic resources to ensure sustainable environmental quality for our city. The conservation element is implemented through 12 objectives as part of the comprehensive plan, and each objective is supported by multiple policies. So just a side note, if you are able to access our meeting agenda, you can find this presentation as part of it. In the underlying sections, those are links. So for example, this link on the top of the slide will send you directly to our city's comprehensive plan.

It's quite a lengthy document, but I'm I've tried

detail on results. Over objectives and policies provide the

regulatory little and procedural framework for environmental stewardship and compliance at local, state and federal levels. And I'm just giving one example for one of these 12 objectives. Below, it encourages the preservation of native vegetation and promotes the creation of an urban forest through Phase three canopy goals. And that policy 3.1 says the city share regularly a review and demand is applicable the land development regulations applying to tree protection and landscaping guidelines for development to promote the preservation and use of native drought tolerant species and so forth. As mentioned earlier, the link has the home plan and any member can find out more about these objectives and policies.

So, the twenty twenty two-twenty twenty five strategic vision plan, it's based on a series of revisions to the city's vision, mission and organizational value statements. It also includes the of

driver COVID-nineteen

COVID-nineteen The impact environmental resiliency and sustainability is is one of these pillars. That also relates to what we do here at the Environmental Advisory Board. The environmental resiliency sustainability pillar, the goal is to safeguard and expand North Port's tree canopy through development standards, codes and ordinances that balance growth with green space. Some programs and initiatives that are tree focused, I am identifying below, but again, that pertains to ways to preserve or ways to target some tree canopy coverage as part of the city's canopy. Finally, the Unified Land Development Code.

There are two chapters that I will briefly overview today. Chapter four, these are the site development standards. Generally, these standards apply for larger scale development. So some of these are promoting context sensitive site design consistent with community character. So what's that saying is that the natural resources of a site have to be identified, and then they need to be taken into consideration for any proposed development.

Let's say if a cluster of heritage trees is present on-site and if the site allows it, all efforts should be made by the applicant to try to avoid them. If possible, no alternatives exist. Of course, that's another story. But context sensitive site development means taking into account the most vulnerable and important, so to say, habitat of a site to be considered. Listed species, wetlands, heritage trees, tree clusters.

So after considering, then comes the site design. Ensuring protection of wetlands and water bodies, providing and maintaining adequate open space, requiring tree preservation and integration of existing vegetation where feasible. So, many cases, for these larger developments, we communicate with our applicants and try to find ways to use the existing landscaping buffer instead of removing those trees and shrubs and then planting new trees and shrubs, if possible.

The next one is very important.

Safeguard listed protected species and their habitats, respect and incorporate the natural topography and site characteristics, establish and enforce buffering and landscaping requirements to mitigate impacts and enhance aesthetics. So then I'm going to the Unified Land Development Code Chapter six. Chapter six pertains to natural resources, and it establishes regulations to protect, conserve, and manage our natural, cultural, and historic resources while ensuring safe and sustainable development. Key areas covered environmental protection, archaeological and historical preservation, endangered and threatened species, flood damage prevention, Miyaka River Protection Zone, wetland protection regulations, and of course, tree protection regulations, which falls under Article seven of that chapter. This article speaks of means to preserve trees, if possible, exemptions, carpool acts, other removal standards and more.

A few words about I thought that there will be a good opportunity to speak briefly about our division before I delve a bit deeper into the pre mitigation system and how that works. I know that that came up during the last meeting as well. So, goal of the division is to be stewards of our natural resources, protect, manage and conserve them for current and future generations. Here's the organizational chart for our natural resources division. Again, you all have access to this presentation and you can find this chart if you would like.

But we have just a few words about it. We have Lori Barnes. She's our Deputy Director and currently present here tonight. Lori is my manager and I am, of course, the Natural Resources Manager in addition to being the liaison of this Board. I oversee a group of seven talented and knowledgeable individuals.

Combined, they have over one hundred years of experience in the field of environmental science, forestry urban forestry, landscaping, and so forth. So Ryan Pieper, he's our urban forester. He oversees Sean Ruff and Jeremy Rocas. These are our arborists. Then we have Aaron Zimmerman and John Sweety, both environmental specialists.

They usually get involved with single family projects such as including gopher tortoise relocations and some other activities pertaining to that, both very knowledgeable as well. Chanel, she's our environmental planner. She gets involved with larger scale development. And Matt Clemens, he's our floodplain administrator as well. He oversees projects and conducts a review related to floodplain management.

So now, as you have a basic idea of what our team does as a whole, I would like to delve into the mitigation basics. So, the process identifies mitigation points and these points are an important part of ultimately what an applicant is to expect of paying or not paying as part of their fee for impacting the undeveloped sites. The tree removal of any native tree greater than 12 inches in diameter at breast height or palm tree greater than 54 inches tall in trunk height. So no mitigation fee would apply for any trees, any native trees that are under 12 inches in as well as palm trees that don't have a 54 inches clear trunk in height. Just to explain, a mitigation for removing an 11 inches oak would be zero by default.

So, how many points per tree? The mitigation points per pine tree are calculated as the dBH divided by three. For all three, it will be the dBH and for bone tree it will be four points per pawn. Please note that this only applies if these trees are beyond the threshold that I'm mentioning in the first part of this slide.

May I ask a question?

Yes,

How did we come up with it's worth a third and it's worth a whole and it's worth four points?

It's a great question. If you don't mind, Chair, can answer would love to answer this question at the end of the presentation. No problem. Thank you, sir. So just giving you a couple of examples of how much a 50 how many points a 15 inch inches in diameter pine tree would be worth and then a 15 inches oak tree.

And finally, one mitigation point would be for $50 Now we also have conservation points. So these are points that are credited where the more you preserve on the lot, the more conservation points you get, which ultimately offset the mitigation points. And perhaps it's going to be a bit more clear once I show you a few examples at the end of the presentation. A tree, even a three or four inches pine tree, is to be preserved, conservation points are given. So, just to remind you, if a small tree is to be removed, no mitigation would be paid.

Small tree, which means under 12 inches. If a small tree is preserved, conservation credits are given. We are Is it generous?

Excuse me. That sounds generous.

The idea is that we want to incentivize the preservation of any existing established trees no matter how small they are. I just want to make sure that the esteemed members understand this. Just to give you an example, preserving a nine inches oak tree gives you nine points. Preserving a 15 inches oak tree, actually because it's a mature tree, it gives you double D conservation points. Heritage trees, so the conservation of heritage trees are highly encouraged when located outside of the footprint of the home.

Heritage trees are any native trees larger than 24 inches DBH. It's rather unusual to encounter a heritage pine tree for this area. However, it's possible. Heritage Oaks, that's the most common form of tree that we encounter for this area. How much mitigation for Heritage Tree, so it would be $100 per inch of DBH.

How much credits for saving a heritage tree, 150 per inch of DBH. Excess conservation credits can be used to offset heritage trees in the footprint of the development. We we foundation

foundation for

And reasonably outside of the for footprint of the home and any other existing infrastructure or, excuse me, proposed infrastructure. The idea here is for us to incentivize the preservation of these beautiful trees as much as possible. Here's an example of these are just wanted to explain to the members. These are real examples from a few weeks ago and they were provided by one of our environmental specialists to me. In this example, the applicant is showing the trees that are

to be

preserved and trees that are to be removed. I'm not sure if you can see, but in the top left corner there are several trees that are proposed to be preserved. I will not really go over this in detail. Our staff members do this on a daily basis. They evaluate multiple sites and it may seem a bit overwhelming, but they run the numbers of everything that I gave you in the previous slides.

So for this specific case, They estimated that the mitigation is being offset by the trees preserved. Therefore, the total mitigation fee that they need to pay for this site is $0 Here's another example. Applicant proposes to remove all trees on the property. After all the numbers are calculated, the mitigation for this property comes to $25.50. And if, let's say, throughout the process, the applicant is able to preserve any trees, we're going going to go there as part of our arbor inspection and if we see some trees that are preserved, we're going to adjust the mitigation tree accordingly where we will offset some of that impact.

Each of these is case by case, site specific. It really depends on what's on-site. For some sites, the mitigation fee can be higher. For some sites, the mitigation fee can be lower than this amount, but these are I just wanted to show you how our code is designed to financially incentivize our applicants to preserve trees, if possible. And with that being said, I would love to answer any questions.

And perhaps I can start with the first one. So Chair, just to make sure I got it correctly, you're asking why were the different 3s assigned those particular values? What makes an oak 3x worth a right on a DBH basis a pie? Yes, it's a great question. Oaks tend to have larger canopy that spreads further, provides more shade.

There are I guess

what I'm asking is, is there like any science behind it or was it more like this is kind of feels right?

So if you look at the size of the canopy of an oak tree that's, let's say, 25 inches in diameter compared to a pine tree, there's a big difference as part of the canopy, the shade. Some argue that these broadleaves provide more habitat and maybe more resilient during storms. So I don't have any science examples But of why overall, it's the canopy size and the coverage of, let's say, an oak compared to a pine. Certainly, pine is much smaller generally compared to an old counterpart.

So intuitively, I get that. Was just curious if it seems like numbers behind them.

Before we go into more questions, just wanted to remind the members that then we'll have the agenda item where we'll go over the tree mitigation process, but I would love to answer any questions now as well.

I have one. Oftentimes, you see a very tall pine entwined with a very large oak. And there would be no way. You'd have to take them both and leave them both. You know? So but you could not, like, I mean, what if the this is being absurd. But what if the pine is smaller, you know, that it falls under? You wouldn't, you know, get fined for taking the pine. But I mean, suppose you want to leave one and not the other. Do you know what I mean?

Yeah. In

these cases each To me, it would tree because if you know what I'm talking about, they're like this. And And it happens, cabbage palms grow under oak trees. That's their underbrush. That's their thing

Yeah. That they do. In many cases, I mean, we really hope that applicants are able to preserve the understory, if possible, to some extent. But if the trees are intertwined like that, I always refer to our urban forester. He goes and evaluates the trees and can give some advice.

Normally, yeah, you cannot uproot one because it will impact the root structure of the other. You can, in theory, cut down one and leave the other without touching the root of the one that has been removed. In theory, that's going to work. Normally, the oaks, they are more resilient as far as

Alright.

Root damage, pine trees, they're more likely not to make any root disturbance. So

Right. Okay. So but I guess the thing is you if you have to cut them down, you're paying for both.

If if this is a developer if if this is a development project and you have to cut them both down and if they meet the if they meet the criteria by definition, you have to pay. However, I want to mention an important point here. If one of these trees is structurally unstable or health wise perhaps it's in a state that's unhealthy, no mitigation applies, one or both. So if both are unhealthy or both may be structurally compromised, then a mitigation fee would not apply and that's something that the applicant can bring up to our attention. And if this is the case, we're going to adjust our numbers where the applicant stuff

But I just wanted to assure myself it was taken on a case by case basis

with Yes, ma'am. Tree. So thank you for bringing this up. Any tree that's unhealthy and if that's confirmed by our arborist, no mitigation would apply.

Questions?

Not questions.

I have a couple of questions. Have

stuff to present, not questions. So if you have questions, go for it.

Yeah. I just got a couple. As you think about tracking the tree canopy, right? It's part of our scorecard. And it's obviously part of any number of plans. How much revenue is the city receiving from this? Are we tracking that? And also, are we tracking puts and takes, right? So this year, we lost ding ding ding, this many trees. And that you're yeah.

Yeah, absolutely, Chair. So as part of the mitigation that's being tracked and that goes into our environmental protection funds. So any dollar amount from such projects gets tracked and it goes into that pool. And this is why I provided to you that handout from our finance department. One of them speaks of the holder. They're still calling it a prefund. And I believe they have the figure of $4,700,000 if I recall correctly. Correctly. That should be on there.

Well, so it sounds like we're tracking it. That's great. Are we tracking the puts and takes on the trees?

Excuse me?

Are we tracking the puts and takes on the trees throughout the year? Right? You've got a data set. If you're going off of those, I'm curious if we're putting those together and having a look at, all right, this is what happened to our tree canopy this year. We're at 30 some odd percent versus 36. This is one of the reasons why.

It's something that I personally would like to do in the future. As of right now, we are tracking these on a permit by permit basis of what's removed and what's preserved. However, there is no master tree removal, tree preservation spreadsheet for these development projects. The data is there. However, right now, we don't have the capacity to do this simply due to the all the other factors.

Sounds like good job for IT. Thank you. All

right. Thank you.

Any other questions? Paul, any more? Jessica? Nope. Okay.

Do I make my comments now?

Yeah, go ahead.

Okay. I appreciate that. And what I want to bring up is mainly residential, not commercial. It's a whole another animal. But for residential, I have a stack of examples where the fees range anywhere from $19,700 to $4,700 So yes, it's nice to see when something goes to 0 or just a couple thousand, but that generally is not the case on the majority of residential lots.

And the fact that you can't save hardly many trees on a standard residential lot unless there happen to be in the rear of the property due to the house design, the septic systems, most of Northport's on sewer, so any trees in the front of the property. In the middle of the property, much are gone because of the home being built, septic system being built. Also, if you have a well, one back corner of your property's got to have a well drilled. You can't have trees there. So typically, you can only maybe save the back 20 feet of maybe 20 by 50 feet on one corner of the property.

That's if you don't have to regrade the lot to make drainage work for the other department. So it's very, very, very challenging, if not almost impossible, to save trees on residential lots just unless the tree happens to be in the exact right placement. So I just wanted to bring that point up. I don't think that was ever explained to the commissioners based upon my conversations with them. They were given examples of large commercial properties where they could balance it out, which is great.

I'm all for on a larger piece of property taking the trees into account. But then on these residential lots, they're getting hammered, literally hammered. And if I would be interested if you guys could track, you're at that $4,700,000 how much came from residential, how much came from commercial? I would guess probably 90% or more came from residential.

You don't know?

He can find out.

How about an economic council, development council?

They can pull permits. They know which one are residential, and they know which ones are Why

don't you

ask them instead of us? Because this is not a So thank you. Address our agenda, our mission.

Oh, no. I'm gonna get to no. This is all part of the mission. Trust me. It's the next conversation we're

gonna have. Part of our mission.

So I can make a point that it is.

Well, good to you.

Thank you, mister Grom. Yeah. Thanks for the comments. Let me so it's something that I can look into. And I

can if anybody wants to see examples, I got tons of

them We're already going to open this up here once we're done with this part of the thing.

You have any other questions about the presentation, then we can proceed

to No. The next This is not part of our mission. I understand that you have valid concerns.

I do. Appreciate your point, but can we get to the next one? And I'll show you how my points What's

word of this board? What's the first word of this board?

You want to say we have nothing to do with money, but you also say that we should tax people for

their trees.

What's the first word in this board? Sorry, guys. We got We got all What's the first word?

Just right there. You can read it just as well as

I I

but I don't see anything in our particular mission that we have that says financial incentives. Everything is guided to trying to save what we can. And if homeowners are getting slammed on having the cost of bulldozing trees, perhaps they should go to a lot that's already been cleared. Why do they have to do this here? I don't know.

That's fine.

Let's nothing's even been proposed yet. So let's everybody has an opportunity to speak their piece. Are we done with as a point of order, are we done with the presentation?

Yes.

Does everybody have their questions answered from that? Just to be clear.

Yes. Want to make sure that all the members understand the tree mitigation process.

That's great. Thank you very much.

I learned a lot. All right.

So new business, item 20 five-two 707, discussion and possible recommendation regarding North Borg's tree mitigation process. Would you like to start?

Yeah. So one question. I'm sure it's on here. If not, is the city able to furnish how much land has been purchased with the tree funds? Or how many trees have been planted with the tree funds?

Yes. We've bought parks.

I'm new to the Board, I'm asking questions I don't have.

Just to make sure, we are talking about the current okay. So just to read the item. So we're talking about discussion and possible recommendation regarding Northport's stream mitigation process.

So

how does your question relate to the three mitigation process?

Well, my question is in regards to I want to make sure that us as the environmental board are making sure that the money that's being raised by the tree conservation, that it's actually going towards buying lands, planting trees, and not just amassing funds that have it. So that's why I'm asking that question, so then I can go to how I have my recommendation. Because if the majority of the funds aren't going to what the funds are supposed to, which are to buy land to protect and preserve and plant trees, that will impact how I make my recommendation.

So the definition of the Environmental Protection Fund does not limit their usage only to what you're referring. And I would also say that if this is something that you would like to have a discussion on, perhaps as a separate item, that can be proposed as part of this this Board. However, in the way that I read your question, I don't think that relates exactly to our tree mitigation process.

I think it's pretty close. I'd say it's right on it because

Well, recommendation is based on how the money's being used. My recommendation would change if you tell me you've used this plan to preserve the land and the trees.

Well, what's your agenda here? Let's get to the bottom of why you were so interested in this. Please. Thank you.

Well, wants to make a recommendation.

I do believe that Casey has brought up the exact same same question in previous months.

I know. You've exact

question as to where the money from the mitigation process

And I do that. So if we need to make a recommendation, you know what? We should spend

more here.

Anything in our mission about spending. So I I I see things in our our mission about preserving the environment. Okay? We love to see, okay, like, you guys were chitchatting about, you know, the hospital, and it's always flooding, you know, and and it's in that area and everything. And while, you know, the land was made to flood.

So, yeah, you're gonna have to mitigate things and, you know, raise the ground and all the rest of it if you wanna have a hospital out there, which is, you know, North Port Stream. We need one, definitely. So, you know, that kind of thing, we wanna make sure that they're doing everything that they can to protect they're very close to our beautiful environmental park. We wanna make sure that they're doing everything that they can to to preserve our water source in Myakka Hacketted Creek Environmental Park. That to me is what we should be discussing.

Okay? Right? And if we need to buy some land around the hospital environments to make sure that the park is still protected, then we can talk about that, Okay, and see if we can get it out of the tree fund. This is all theoretical in my head kind of thing. I don't know if it would be allowed or not.

Let me respond to that. Let me respond to that, Okay? And you mentioned, Jessica, part of this is to preserve 100%, right? So tree fund was established to do just that.

Right. So

it seems to me, at least the reason that I've been asking for it for a while, is so, all right, are those monies being spent against that preservation?

So I just wanted to I think that's

It's right in the heart of what we're supposed to be talking about.

Are the monies being sent against preservation?

Right. To the purpose of preservation?

To the purpose of against is that's what we used

mitigation process. And I wanted to make sure that I felt that initially, this item was brought up to discuss how our tree mitigation process works instead of where are the environmental protection funds spent, which was the question. So just to explain, the environmental protection funds, there is a definition as part of the Unified Land Development

Code. Yeah. It was updated in the

last one. Definition is pulled up on the screen right now. Hopefully, you can all read it. And then as part of the Environmental Protection Fund, we have a program that has been funded for this fiscal year. We're currently in fiscal year twenty twenty five-twenty twenty six.

We have $2,500,000 approved by commission or to be where we could start utilizing the Environmental Protection Fund towards acquiring some of these parcels of interest that we have. This is I mean, I wanted to demonstrate that as part of

business That's where it's being spent.

We're not just considering other initiatives, we're also considering lot acquisition. And as of right now, none of this was spent. So to answer the question directly, it's zero. However, there's an allocated fund for this fiscal year of $2,500,000.

November 3 and no properties have been purchased yet?

Not as part of this program, which is naturally you know, this is

year starts when?

October. Okay.

That's all.

Didn't we, last year, purchase a land for a new park off

This was not done with the Environmental Protection. What was it? That was parked.

Lori Marks, Deputy Director of Development Services. I'd just like to say that the Natural Resources Division is very new. It is only two years old. So there have been multiple planting projects that were initiated in this last fiscal year. I don't have a dollar amount for the funds that have been spent on the tree installation.

There have been tree giveaways to increase the canopy. And as far as purchase of environmentally sensitive land, there's a process. The commission has approved our budget line item for acquisition of environmentally sensitive land. And the next steps involve bringing those properties that have a high environmental ranking to this board to get your recommendations in addition to staff and then to get commission direction to proceed with the process of attempting to purchase these properties in hopes that we have willing buyers. Yes, it's a month into the fiscal year, bureaucracy.

But we have established a program, established a ranking mechanism for those properties that the natural resources staff and their expertise skills should be pursued. And we'll be proceeding with the presentation to the EAB and then commission in December.

So as we think about that that was great. Jim, as we think about your recommendation, I thought I heard you say, right, it kind of depends on where the money is going. Is this

Yes. And I already knew the answer. They hadn't purchased anything yet. And my concern is they've been amassing funds but haven't been using them for what the thing was directed to. I understand it takes time. Trust me. Been doing this a while. But if our board is all about the environment, but yet we're not holding the city feet to the fire saying, what have you done for the environment other than build up a budget? I think we've done a disservice to this board. Do you feel differently, Jessica?

I do feel differently. There's nothing wrong with saving money for future projects because if you do something in haste, you're gonna pay for the consequences in the future, and the environment is extremely important to human life. Okay? I had an old saying, you know, you kill the birds and say goodbye to us. Right? Because they feed us, basically. I mean, they fly around and plant seeds.

Here's what I want to make The item speaks for our tree mitigation process. The tree mitigation process collects mitigation funds that then go into the Environmental Protection Fund. The tree mitigation process ends there. If Commission would like to have a discussion and recommendations and potentially share their thoughts of how the Environmental Protection Fund is utilized, that's a separate item. We are the realm of this item is the tree mitigation process.

The tree mitigation process ends as soon as these fees enter our environmental protection Fund. So I felt that the and I didn't mean to be rude, but I felt that the topic here is shifting from the three mitigation process, which was my intent to cover in detail for you all to discuss. And now all of a sudden, we're talking about the Environmental Protection Fund, and that's a fair point. But we have a structured agenda process here. Propose a future agenda item, we will include this agenda item on the likely next month's agenda, and we can have a discussion where I can have more information and more details to provide to the Board.

You've asked me many questions. Some of them, you know the answers, but some of them, I don't have the answers right now. It's something that I was not expecting to discuss right now. So if I may, let's stay within the three mitigation process. We'll touch on the land acquisition. I will give you some of that information as part of the next item. But the question here is that how does our mitigation process works and what you would like to all discuss about that. I think that these are two separate subjects. That's

That's fun. Would you like to make your recommendation?

I like to make my recommendation. We should look at revising or lowering the cap on the residential lots.

Wow.

So what number?

Hang on one second. I don't know why.

Well Because I want to make a recommendation. Why? Because I believe it hurts the development of the city.

Well, what about our tree mitigation fund?

I believe they're intertwined. You can't have tree funds if residential hots aren't built. You can't build residential homes when the fees are

Do you

believe that there should be a balancing act? I do. What is the balancing act? Does it favor the owner, the homeowner who wants to build, or the community in which it takes place that has recommendations and regulation and mitigation that the buyers know about? Now, if they don't know, then who are they dealing with? Maybe some realtors who keep their tracks shut about it?

That's your assessment of it.

Oh, it's not my assessment. That was a question. It wasn't

You were saying that it's people that don't know. Most homeowners have no idea how any of this works.

Well, maybe they should, and maybe they need to be educated.

Okay. So would you like to go educate them?

I would gladly go to a meeting of realtors and say, please tell your clients about our tree mitigation fund. Because if it's being sprung on them as a surprise, hey, you're in Northport. You buy some property. Oh, it's going cost you money to cut down your tree. Okay. I'd be pissed because nobody told me. Nobody warned me, and I was lured into a trap. Okay? I think it should be common knowledge. I think we should promote and advertise our environmental advisory board and our tree mitigation.

I think that the public should be made aware of it. And I don't think anybody should be lured into buying property here who doesn't know about it. Because most people, a lot of towns don't have it. A lot of towns do. Okay?

Almost all counties have it.

And even though our what's our city motto? City of tree Tree City or something like that. People need to know why we call themselves Arthas, and they need to know how important our tree canopy is. And that if they wish to build here, they will contribute to it and giving out free trees, I think, people who have zero or low mitigation costs, great. If they have to pay a lot of money to clear their lot and build what they want, that needs to be factored into their financial decisions. And the people that need to be telling them this are the realtors, I think.

Either way. Yeah, I agree. That's a good place for it

to And it needs to be somewhere on their deed or something. I don't know. I know that people went to town after Hurricane Ian because the city lifted the regulations. And they just I mean, I saw a lot of oak trees go in my neighborhood.

So I stated last meeting that as an opposing viewpoint, I didn't want to see another single line get developed. I love them. I think they're great. When I think about our tree canopy, that's probably our really our last bastion, the tree canopy because all the developer stuff is going to go down. That's just the reality of it, right? That's the world that we live with. I haven't heard anything that's made me change my mind. I would sit here. I'm thinking, why don't we raise it? Let's make it tougher.

Go for it.

I was just curious to see what this member Paul think about this discussion.

I'm less than a minute away from walking out of this board. I agree that we need to save trees. I agree that there needs to be funds. I agree that there should be rebates if you save it. I am not in his field.

I am a parent raising a family. I want to save stuff. We're acting like children. I have joined the Arbor Day Society. I have joined People for Trees to do something about trees.

I have planted natural trees in my yard. I've done my due diligence. Unfortunately, as we were having a conversation earlier, there's a lot next to me that's gonna get no. We're way off topic. I wanna save trees but we can't stop progress.

And a lot of these properties out here are people that bought these properties back in the seventies, early eighties, before there was a tree ordinance, before there was the UDLC. And now you're talking about finding them?

Well, can I

say something? Still have the I still have the floor. Before I say something bad, I'm going to leave because it's the best thing to do. I don't wanna say something to upset anybody to that would also cause the city to remove me from the board. Three months ago, we did a thing with the recreation board. We were supposed to do a talk. I was supposed to review what we did on parks, and at parks, I'm supposed to review this. This hasn't been done yet. I'll see you guys next month. Thanks.

I'm sorry. Just wanna talk. We can talk outside outside the

area. Okay. Well, you

have a problem. So as a liaison of the environmental advisory board, I need to pay attention to the charter of what we have here and what we are trying to accomplish as a Board and why we're here. So I understand the perspectives here, And these are certainly valid points. What I my job is to remind the members of why we're here. This is the environmental advisory board and the goal is to protect, conserve and enhance the city's natural resources.

As this discussion pertains to the mitigation process by the definition of this item, we need to ask the question how any of these proposals relate to the charter this board. And I do hear you, Tim. It's certainly a valid point. However, the way that I interpret it is that it does not tie protection of our natural resources. I see the point about how the Environmental Protection Fund is utilized.

However, the tree mitigation process saying, okay, let's cap it or let's reduce it, is an example. That's what I understood from what you're saying. Forgive me, but I don't see how it relates to the charter of why we're here as an environmental advisory.

And you can go with their assessment, and we should make it so that it's so expensive that they do no longer develop. That's what they were proposing. And if that's their proposal, then I will leave this board as well because that's not I don't think not developing the city of Northport is an option. And if this board's only purpose is to make sure that every single tree can be saved and we try to stop development, I don't believe this board's actually functioning the way it should be.

No. That is not.

I don't think anybody said stop.

Never. Never.

You said to keep raising it.

I'm making it more difficult. 100%.

So you're fine with raising rates, but when we talk about reducing them, it's somehow part of your boards to raise rates astronomically. Then I talk about lowering to We what's do. More

reasonable

to what's around. I am talking, please, right? Is the Northport the most expensive tree mitigation in the surrounding areas by far?

I don't know.

You should, because I know the answer.

I know that generally it's costlier to develop compared to Charlotte County.

And Sarasota County? And Lee, DeSoto, you guys are the most expensive by far.

However, in some cases And that's fine. In some cases, like I said, you gave some examples, and I agree. But there are examples where the mitigation is indeed offset and then it would be zero.

It is.

There are those cases as well. I cannot just ignore them. That's all I

can say.

And for every one or two that are zero, there are 10 or 15 that are 5,000, 8,000. You can even exceed the cap of that's currently at 8,000 when you have heritage trees. I believe they are excessive. My field of expertise tells me they're excessive. If the board thinks that that has nothing to do with what the board should be doing, I would question the board's position on how they're looking at things. If you want to focus this much on this and say that you have nothing to do with any other aspect, but you put money as a guideline to do it. As soon as you put money in there as a guideline, you already crossed the bounds. You're talking money.

So

you like to talk money when it suits your needs, but you don't like when I bring it the other way. So please know that there is hypocrisy in that.

Okay. I'm going to be draw a parallel. When the Unified Development Code went through last year, suddenly, people owned lots that they couldn't build a house on anymore. They were being zoned commercial. And there was an uproar about that.

So cities are always doing things that some citizens are upset about, okay, that they don't like. Now he's upset because people bought lots in the sixties and seventies, and now they can't build on him. Well, they bought him this speculation, I'm sure, because there was nothing here except hogs in the sixties and seventies. So and now it's expensive for them to to build. Well, we have a beautiful city, and it's nicely laid out and nicely planned and doesn't look at all like Port Charlotte.

Okay? And I happen to like it here, and I like the aesthetics, and I like it being zoned, and I like it being laid out the way that it looks. And I like the that we take the landscape in our city, the whole city, not just one strip of a downtown street like Venice has. And Venice, somehow, on the island, managed to keep most of their trees. I mean, it's a miracle how they built houses.

But anyway, I understand that you don't like it, and I'm on the other side. If it was me, and I was here, and I had bought a lot, and nobody told me that it was going to cost me a fortune to develop the lot, I would be upset. But I think foreknowledge would help a lot. So just because they're single family homeowners, why should they get a break that the developers don't get? Because that is a wedge in the door.

If the single family homeowner, the developers will scream bloody murder about property rights. And then there will be no tree fund, and there will be no landscape, and we'll live in a concrete world just like where I grew up on the other coast. So we made an effort here, this city, to do something a little bit different and a little bit greener and a little bit more environmentally conscious. And yes, it costs money.

So I think where it isn't about money going up or down. I think that's a mischaracterization. Part of our deal is the tree canopy, right? In my opinion, I haven't heard otherwise. My opinion, if we lower those fees, that's going to not only negatively impact tree canopy, but air quality, surface water quality, wildlife, and storm and floodplain management, those are all the things that are on our scorecard that are really what's driving us.

If I'm missing something, peace, I'll talk about these all day long, up, down, whatever. But where I'm coming from is based on what we're looking at. And so for me, it's a tree canopy issue. If you can tell me that that's going to have a positive impact on the tree canopy,

be We need to move it along. I

I think that all members are making great points again. However, the forum of some of these concerns is perhaps not aligning with the environmental advisory board. There are other channels to relay the message of any concerns of these potentially high fees. And again, I completely understand it. All I'm saying is that it does not this specific concern saying that we are denying people from developing, not in my opinion, we are not denying.

There are mitigation fees that need to be accounted for the Unified Land Development called comprehensive plan. And we are following what was initially directed by commission. Now there are channels that promote development. They want to make it easier for developers and builders to build in Northport. Those channels exist.

The goal of the Environmental Advisory Board is to provide the perspective that protects and preserves our natural resources. This is not in any way personal. This is not intended to prevent someone's freedom to express themselves. This is extremely important and I'm very grateful that everyone's sharing their thoughts for this issue. I want to explain that my job is to follow what this Board is intended to do.

And saying that less regulations is perhaps better for someone who wants to develop. I agree with that. However, in my opinion, this is not better for the environment. I don't see that link. And this is where I believe we need to this is what we need to take into consideration as part of this item.

Fine. So then let's raise let's make a recommendation that the tree mitigation goes up exponentially. If that's Why? Because that's what you guys want, correct? That's our We're canopy. Let's to stir up make it so astronomically expensive to remove them because that's what Northport's about.

Correct? Each member can make a motion and propose an item as a future as for future discussion. It needs to get a second and and if that aligns with the with the will of the of the board. But I I think that that's that's something that would you like to

No reason to stand over yet. Am not sure

where we're going

If with

I may, to tag on to what Stephane said and also to offer some additional information. The EAP, if they wish, can make a recommendation to the city commission to increase the tree mitigation fees for new development. Certainly, you can do that. However, if that were to be the recommendation, I would suggest a follow-up agenda item because any tree mitigation fee that is proposed would need to be carefully reviewed and data provided to support that fee to ensure that we're not in a situation where we are creating a takings issue and actually taking people's development rights from them because of the magnitude of the fee. So I would recommend a separate agenda item if that's the direction you want to go.

Moreover, Mr. Drum, you talked about being concerned about development and making sure development still continues in the city in light of these mitigation fees. The city does have a Community Economic Development Advisory Board that advises the city commission on issues related to development in the city. That board might be the appropriate purview for this type of conversation that relates to fees that are impacting development. Also, as an individual citizen, you can certainly go to the commission individually or during public input at a commission meeting and share your concerns and your proposal with them as far as changing the mitigation fees.

And I have talked to commissioners about it already. So that's why I was advised to come to a board that dealt with it.

So Okay. So do we have a motion to discuss potentially taking a making a recommendation on changing the mitigation fees? That sounds like a no. Okay. Item B25-three thousand and two, presentation and discussion regarding potential future development projects in Northport.

Okay. Thank you, Chair. So I'll make this short and sweet. Just a reminder that the projects that I'm bringing up to the attention of the Board projects where the Natural Resources Division have approved their review or have approved their review conditionally. All others are in some form of a revision status.

So this is a property on Sumter Boulevard. It's already an existing developed site, and that project meets all natural resources requirements. There are absolutely no ecological concerns to do it. Here's the location. As starting from this meeting, I will be providing the most recent aerial of the site of each site as well so the board can have a better understanding of what's there existing right now.

This is a restaurant near Toledo, Toledo Blades, and our comments here that the project meets the requirements with conditions. A golfer tortoise survey must be completed within 90 government. We work

to

cease, And and the our team needs to be notified and disclose any other relevant entities. That's standard standard comment. Mhmm. So here's the restaurant, and here's the location of it. K.

Car that's a car wash project. Same same comments applied as well. This will be a this is already a graded site, cleared and no limited environmental concerns for that are there as well. We don't expect to have any impacts as of where we are right now. The final project that relates to have foundation have strong for the to provide more shade for future visitors of this pond.

And that's all I have for this item.

Great. Any questions? Nope. Item C, discussion and possible action regarding selecting Environmental Advisory Board annual report option.

What's that mean?

I have no idea. So I

wanted to give you a heads up of what to expect for the next few meetings. As part of the Board's charter, we need to have an annual report completed by the Board and the liaison. And we also need to have some goals established for this bot. So as part of this report, and there will be more details because I will create a separate item with attachments and description. I'm just giving you an FYI of what's coming at the next meeting.

So as part of this report, there needs to be the accomplishments accomplishments for the calendar year, what has the Board accomplished, perhaps what he wasn't able to accomplish and what some of the goals for the next calendar year for the Board are. And the first step would be to have a quick, perhaps informal discussion of what we want to accomplish as a body and what we have accomplished over the year. This will be an item, as mentioned earlier, this will be an item that I will have for next month. And I wanted to just take a moment to also explain to the Board the three potential options of how you can complete this report. So the first one would be a presentation where a voted member of the Board can present this report in front of commission at a regular commission meeting.

The other option would be for the members to agree on a memorandum and then that memorandum to be shared to our commissioners. And then the final option is to hold a joint meeting with our commission to explain our accomplishments as a Board and to talk very made in past. We

I'm sure that you all understand why is this so important.

In

Great. And Thank you. Item D, discussion and possible recommendation regarding potential land acquisition areas in '19.

Land acquisition for we And have $2,500,000 allocated in our budget that will be designated towards acquiring property throughout the city of North Port that we find the highest ecological value and best fitting for what we're trying to accomplish. So at the next meeting, upcoming in December, we will be presenting to the Board the list of parcels or the list of areas that we have in mind to acquire. I mentioned before why we're going to be avoiding specific PIDs. We don't want to affect the market value of these properties. However, we're going to have an area and approximate size and habitat quality because that's what we ultimately want to look at.

And then, of course, any input from the Board will be more than welcomed before our presentation that we will be doing on December to get the final, hopefully

Bless me.

Go ahead and bless him to proceed with this. So I just wanted to make sure that the board is not kept in the dark. I value transparency, and I I wanna make sure that you all know where we are. We are almost done with finalizing those areas internally.

Great. Look forward to seeing it.

Excuse me.

I said I look forward to seeing it.

Mr. Chairman, I have public comment when you get to it on this issue.

For this item or also for the end?

For this item right here, ma'am. Whatever

Any questions, comments on item D?

We have one public comment.

Brumer has it. Thank

you. This

relates back to my initial public comment on that piece of property that borders 41 The Creek and West of the Old Winn Dixie. I explained the environmental concerns and as it relates to the property. And that the property owner themselves requested that it be zoned to conservation for the multiple reasons I explained. I would like the board and again, I believe this Board has already had first reading of the commission and they declined to take up owner's request. I would like this board to consider sending a memo to the commission as it relates to, this piece of property.

Unfortunately, I know times are crunch. You don't have a lot of data to work on as it relates to, but I explained the significance of it. And it ties right into conservation

Okay. I have a

question. Land that the city wants to purchase.

Okay. The city wants to purchase this from the owner.

No. Okay. No. The owner wants it rezoned from commercial to conservation, if I'm correct.

Let me come over to Mike Skeshmi.

Thank you very much. Yes, sir. To clarify,

the owner did not submit a rezoning application. The owner applied to Sarasota County's land acquisition program. And through that program, because the property was in the city limits, the county asked for feedback from the city as to whether that land should be considered for their acquisition program. And because of the location in an activity center and on Highway 41, the commission declined to support that environmental land acquisition application because they believe that it should be preserved for economic development.

Thank you very

much, Ms. Okay.

So what's the owners what's his game plan here?

Can we make a motion to discuss this next meeting? I think it's important. Yeah. That was good. I mean, it's 07:00.

Okay.

So I would make I think it's very important we discuss this.

I just wanted to bring it to the board's attention primarily.

Right.

Okay.

I mean

But it's only half done.

Right. But I just don't understand why the owner wouldn't donate it to one of the groups that

I think it's commendable of the owner even considering it.

So if he's already yeah. That was going to be my question. What's his endgame? I mean

Well, he can can just not sell.

I think the county's land acquisition program would still pay the owner then for the acquisition. So they're not donating it.

But wait, who is I forgotten. Who is the group that does buy land

for preservation?

That's Sarasota County Environment

No, and no. Central

No. There's a private group.

North talking about environmental kinds of environmental North Port Environmental Conservancy.

Yes. Good. Okay. Well, they buy land.

All right. So We can put down the next two years.

I mean, anything about to them. Right?

All I know is that just wanted to

remind them to the attention of the board. Potentially, is an item that, I mean, you can make motion for either discussion or recommendation. But we are quite limited with

time. Yep.

And I just wanted to remind you all.

Yep. Item 253,012, discussion of possible action regarding approval of the amended Environmental Advisory Board twenty twenty six Annual Meeting Schedule.

Just one date that was paid on it because I believe it fell on a holiday.

Okay. I'll make a motion.

I don't think it's the chair to make the motion. So I can make a motion.

Tim? Pass to Gavin. Shush.

All right. Are we good? Future agenda items. Tim, do you have discuss

that land acquisition. Nobody picked it up.

No. We got that. I seconded it.

Oh, you did? Didn't I missed it. I missed it. That's good. I'm fine.

The only other thing I'd like to possibly discuss next time is why we really haven't seen any releases about the scorecard. This is a great opportunity to get visibility to what we're trying to get done to the community. It's a great story on also, always short of volunteers. This came out of one of the groups. You can make an impact. There's a huge play there. We're not taking advantage of it.

I know that it was on the email newsletter. And I have made a request to include a social media post of it. I believe that no social media post has been released yet. But I know that the communications to been

the local news and everything. Nobody else is doing this, for crying out loud. I'd be willing if somebody from the communications group would want to come and talk to us about it. That'd be great too.

It's something that I can discuss with them. Yeah, please. Usually once the social media post is placed, then there's there may be some follow-up interest from

Great.

Other parties.

Any other public comment?

Juggen is Northport. Okay. I want to bring up a project that was mentioned a decade ago as it relates to your Italian record. The city, right, giving credits to the developers, right, to move trees or viable trees that can be transplanted from their property, right, to a designated area of the city or designated areas that need trees. What I'm talking about, you take an eight inch DVH tree, spade truck it from one spot and put it in another and give them credit for those trees.

It's as simple as that. It's something that maybe somebody should, like, consider, look into feasibility of it, you know, because that's another way to increase our key our our tree canopy. Help the developers. Right? Okay? And and and and and put trees where they need to go. Now, I don't know what the cost of benefit is on it, but it's something that should be looked into.

I think we should discuss that next meeting. I make a motion that we discuss it next meeting because when we buy landscape trees to plant, we're spending money there, right? So what's the cost benefit ratio of having a spade truck, as you call it, move the tree? And we can ask that to be looked into and see if it has a feasible idea.

I second it.

Okay. You're on to the next I'd like to

add one more point. Okay? The city doesn't necessarily have to purchase this Bay truck, but it would be advantageous to them to do so. But the developer has the greater capacity to facilitate this project than anyone.

So that's all part of the same It's on the index agenda.

I'll get Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you, sir.

Any other public comment? We are adjourned.

Thank you.