City Council - Regular Meeting

I was like, here's an extra $8 for that, you know. But last week when I was in a week-l long trial, I was bombarded with emails from from staff. I'm like, I'll get back to you in the evenings or, you know, Yeah. I candle it at both ends. I know, huh?

To see us. Yeah. Come on. Don't we? I think we should be a couple. I thought we had I think three resolutions on the calendar. I may be mistaken. Such a sweet dog. we have left. Where's Jennifer? So kind. Are you ready? Good. Jennifer. She is the best. There she is. Yeah. Happy. Good morning everybody. We're gonna go ahead and get started. You good, Jennifer? Yes.

Okay. Okay. We're going to call to order this meeting this morning. Welcome everyone. It's a nice full house inside of here. It's Wednesday, March 11th, uh here in the Lashley community room and it is 9:01 a.m. We're going to do a roll call. Janine Pulk here, Greg Julian, Janice Denton, Melissa Lockart.

Okay. And Carla, will you do the invocation for us, please? And right after, we'll do the pledge. I have two prayers this morning for us. The first one is I prepared it yesterday was meaningful. When I saw all the young people here today, it brought a tear to my eye. Heavenly Father, we lift up every man and woman serving in our military. Protect them wherever they are stationed on land, at sea, or in the air. Be their shield and their covering. We also pray for their families, the spouses that hold down the home, the children that are missing their parents, and the parents that are praying for them from afar. Comfort their hearts. Bring them home safely. It's in the name of Jesus we pray.

Amen. My my prayer for this council this morning is Father, we bring this council before you today and we bring the decisions that they make before you today be pleasing to the people of Ponta Gorda and to you. Bless every family that is represented here in this chamber. It's in Jesus's name we pray. Amen. Amen. The flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

And since we have a nice full house, how many veterans are in the room? Please stand. Thank you all for our freedom and your sacrifices. Do we have any announcements?

Yes. Senate Bill 840 made it successfully through the Senate and then was referred to the House Intergovernmental Affairs Committee. But the committees have stopped their meetings. They they've finished. But the House Speaker said that they're spending this week addressing those bills that made it through one chamber or the other. So, there is some flicker of hope that it could still get approved. And uh as uh to borrow a phrase that a friend of mine uh Councilman Adam Greenway often uses, if uh if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'll all have a merry Christmas. So, let's just hope that bill goes through.

Okay, I'm going to do one quick announcement, too. Um, just because I wanted to make sure that everybody heard it, and it can be put in the back. There is actually a veterans resource fair. It's on Friday, March 27th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. It's at the Family Service Center. It's really great for all of our veterans to know what kind of benefits that you can get. So, I'm going to set it up here, but hopefully anybody who wants it, please contact me. Uh this is great resources for all our heroes. Okay. Our next meeting will be March 25th and it will be our regular council meeting right here at 9:00 a.m. Agenda approval. Yeah. Move to approve. Is this where we want to table or do you want to bring it up first?

Do you want me to announce the table or do you want to bring it up first and then take it? We agreed to 3B. 3B. Yeah, we agree to table 3B. Yeah, correct. So, what we're going to do is we're going to table 3B. Okay. Sounds good.

Okay. Next is our proclamations and presentations. Is Bob here? Bob, maybe we're going to recognize him. There he is. Bob, come on up. Good morning, city council members. Uh, Deputy City Clerk F Jennifer Falner. For the record, it is my um privilege to present a certificate of appreciation to Mr. Robert Konab, who has given us nine dedicated years on the Panagorta Isles Canal Advisory Committee. Um so we just wanted to take this opportunity to thank him for his service on the PGI uh committee. I know that it has been a very interesting I hope a very interesting and fulfilling ride. Um are there any other members from the PGI canal committee that are here? I thought I had seen a couple. Um but uh we will also um make note of the certificate of appreciation at their next meeting. But just wanted to take this opportunity in front of council and in front of the residents to say thank you so much for serving. Um we very much appreciate it. NEXT WE HAVE THE GOVERNMENT FINANCE professional week.

I don't know. Kristen, will you please join me? Oh, the whole gang. Even better. My good.

Excellent. It is my honor to present this proclamation of the city of Pontagorta. Whereas the Florida Government Finance Officers Association is a professional association founded in 1937. I was surprised about that. and serves more than three 3,300 professionals from state, county and city governments, school districts, colleges and universities, special districts and private firms. And whereas the FG FOA is dedicated being a professional resource by providing opportunities through education, networking, leadership and information. And whereas the government finance professionals week sponsored by the FGFOA and all its member governmental organizations is a week-long series of activities aimed at recognizing government finance professionals and the vital services that they provide to our state and our community. And whereas during the week this week, government finance professionals throughout the state of Florida will be acknowledged for their hard work, dedication, and leadership. Now therefore, the city council of the city of Pontagora, Florida does hereby proclaim March 16 through March 20, 2026 as government finance professionals week passed and duly adopted this the 11th day of March 2026. Kristen Simeone, finance director. And I just want to thank everyone, city council, citizens, um, for the opportunity to serve the community as well as having a great staff who help keep the city going and, um, they do

attain the highest recognitions that they can um, achieve as well as, you know, keeping everything moving along for the city. So, I couldn't do it without them and I appreciate all their hard work. That's true. That's what I say is female power right there. Huh?

Next is public input. This is actually going to be for a board or committee at this point. So, anyone who wishes to introduce themselves as a nominee for a board or committee may do so at this time. Please state your name. So, this is for a board or a committee. My name is James. Come on up here, sir. Please. Yes. Thank you. All right.

My name is James Merritt. Um, I'm submitting uh an application for canal advisory board as an alternate member. Um, I'm a resident of uh Punagora for the last 14 years. I was the until I retired in June, I was the yach club head dockmaster. Uh, I've been around boats my whole life. I have a 100 ton masters license. was uh an instructor for Charlotte Harbor Sailing here in the on the water. Uh owned a boat for more than 50 years. So I'd like to to submit to my name for that position. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. All right.

Anybody else?

Wow. Magic. Thank you. Is Alexia here? Okay. So, we're going to move on then. This one is also public input. Anyone wishing to address the council on any matter must state their name for the record. Each person will be allowed to speak up to a maximum of three minutes. And if you don't want to stay for the whole council meeting and stuff after you're done speaking, you're okay to go. I know sometimes people are feel a little awkward when they leave, but it's fine. So, anybody wishing to talk, please come to the podium. State your name first.

Good morning, Joe Ko. Um, so a letter to the editor this morning reminded me of something. It was a letter complaining about, you know, or commenting that things not having been done. They were mostly talking about the harbor walk and fishing peers and things like that. We know those are big projects, but there's three that I see all the time that have been around for at least several hurricanes, some of which have been around long before this council. Uh, and they're all city property. One of them is the white fence around the public works public utilities over on Harvey on uh Yeah. Yeah. uh shrieve that area over there next to the dog the the dog park that's been down because it went in a hurricane long ago. The other is and it's not storm related, but there's this nice white iron rod white row iron fence that went around the uh uh historic city hall parking lot at one time for security. Somebody decided to drive through a section of it which is still not been repaired. And finally, one that you see every time you drive 41 uh north, there's where's the R on Herald Court? And and that I know I remember previous councils and mayors saying, "Where's the R on Herald Court?" And it, you know, those are, I would hope, relatively simple city property projects that we could kind of fix to, you know, help just sort of the general appearance of our town. Anyway, thank you.

Thank you. If we could have maybe started instead of where's Waldo or do where's the R? Well, good morning city council and everybody in the chamber. I like that shirt. Joe not dead yet. Yeah. Well, state your name.

Oh, Tim Richie, citizen waters, founder and president of March against Mosaic. I uh I'd like to propose that the city create a ordinance banning the use and sale of Roundup uh glyosphate. That is a toxic poison. The other day I had to go into Home Depot and get about Oh, I stock up. I usually buy about 30 rat traps. I'm doing good this year. And uh you just see rows of poison. Now I told all of you on Wednesday, February 18th, 2026, I was up in Manatee County testifying against Mosaic Four Corners phosphate mine. And this is a 60,000 acre facility, everybody. And just so you know, uh I I received some calls from people and they're getting ready to file an appeal. The lady said, "Oh, my husband and I purchased a year ago because Mosaic was supposed to be done in four years per their mastering plan." and they got another 14 years given to them at the planning commission meeting. We beat them six to zero and then they came back pressure. Now I've shared a couple articles and a gal wrote a great article the other day and I've never said this because I'm a big supporter of our military.

Most of my family served in the military starting pre-ivil war on this continent, but they said that President Trump, you know, put glyosphate and phosphate under federal protection on the critical minerals list. And phosphorus, we have phosphorus bombs. When you see the big glowing white, that's phosphorus. Now, I've made it clear to Senator Al Britain and a few other people, and I really want your help on this. We need to get industrial wastewater facilities built at each mosaic plant with reverse osmosis. That way they can stop discharging into the creeks, rivers, and streams from Tampa Bay to Charlotte Harbor. They use the Alifa, Little Manatee, Manatee, Mak, and Peace River. Please look into the ordinance. Thank you very much, everybody.

Thank you, TIM. Why not? I know it's expensive. You can stand up. You just need yourself short.

He wants Hi, my name is Reese Finley and I am a friend of Ben Bicardo. I hope we don't mean to bother you, but I'm sorry if we do. And maybe if you just ask nicely for us to stop being loud, then maybe we will. We are just trying to play outside and have fun.

Hi, my name is Benjamin Bardo. I live in Panagorta. I am 8 years old. I go to school during the day and when I come home I like to run, play, ride my bike, and play basketball. I like to play with my brothers and my friends. Yesterday, we even had dolphins that came to play with us at my house. Please don't try to make it harder for me me to do the things I love. I'm already scared to play in my yard because of this one lady in my neighborhood. She likes to yell and at me and tell me to go inside. This lady name is Deb. She is the one that took the videos of me that you watched LA last meeting here. One time she told me that this was not a neighborhood for kids to live in and that she's going to make us move. When I was smaller, she used to make me cry a lot. Now I am bigger and I was and it doesn't make me cry, but it makes me scared more sometimes. I remember when I was 6 years old and my friends came to play soccer with me at my birthday. Deb started yelling at us to stop playing and leave. My friends were so scared and I was so embarrassed. I hope that you don't you do not listen to her when she asks you to stop me from playing in my yard. I watched the news. One of you said she wants to limit the number of people who can play in the yard. Is this because Deb doesn't like my birthday parties? Can I not celebrate my birthday parties in my yard in the future?

Good boy. Very good. Yes. Thank you, kids. That that my name is Nancy Palmer. I've been a resident of Pontagora for 30 years. Some of you may know me. I'm a gardener and I talk about gardening issues. And um I am very fortunate to live on a street that has these young people who you are just getting to meet now and they're here in the audience and they are wonderful, wonderful people. I could not be more blessed to have young leaders and and our next generation of people coming up, our future citizens of this community. I would like to read um a memo that I wrote to the city council. Dear city council members, this has not been the first time that one specific resident has raised an objection to these children playing in their own yard. I am sure you are aware of this complainer. What is healthier than children entertaining them outside like we used to entertain ourselves outside? In the age of children being glued to screens, don't we all want more outtime and more outdoor time and more personal engagement for our children? Isn't this something that many children today lack? Isn't outdoor play among friends healthy? We have lived next door to the Bicardos since the day they arrived. While we are seniors, we are all thrilled to have them as our neighbors. Across the street lives another family with small children. And we feel gifted to live on a small culde-sac with so much life and engagement with all these very courteous, very respectable young people. Every one of them is studious, tops in their classes and extracurriculars.

And each one has engaged with all of us old folks. We know their names, they know our names, and we are on speaking terms. That is what makes a neighborhood. The parents and grandparents of this family are all physicians. That makes four of them. Four physicians from one house. They volunteer their time every month with a Virginia B. Andes clinic, which if you don't know is a clinic that helps treat our community residents with no access to health care and no insurance. They actually do something to help this community. Let that sink in. They are raising these fine young people who will one day follow in their footsteps to do that for all of us. and we will all need that help as time goes on. To me, it is shocking that anyone would object to kids playing some basketball or having fun in their pool or playing just playing in their own backyard, having a birthday party. Don't we all want to have fun at our birthday parties, not be intimidated? These children do not even have cell phones, as do most of their peers, and for good reason. These parents have very real expectations of those children and because of their parenting these children will become the caring productive members of societ society that the rest I'm out. Okay.

Thank you. Sorry. Thank you.

Good morning, city council. And my name is Chase. I live next to our good friends, the Bicardos. And and yes, I did say that wrong. I do not know how to pronounce a lot of things. But but almost every night, we play basketball or other games on the court. And I don't get home from school until 5 because the middle school gets out at 4.

As in the B on the bus, I am the last stop. and as in after I get home and eaten it's about 6 in half the year it gets dark by 6:30 so with this new audience it's only safe to play for 30 minutes that's why I don't understand why uh people want to limit the use of lights that make it safe so we could see the ball and and I don't think it's fair that we should change the whole neighborhood to accommodate for one person. We haven't gotten we haven't even had a complaint from any other person than Deborah. And lastly, thank you city council for listening to my opinion. And it's I think it's a shame that we have to go through this just to play safely. Thank you.

Okay. So, uh, they were so cute. It's hard to go behind them. Good morning. Um, I live one one uh house over from the Vicardos. Can you state your name, please? Oh, I'm sorry. Ashley Dazzio Bradfield. Thank you.

And I'm a local emergency room physician, so I've taken care of mo many of you. Um uh and so you know it this is like we all are very caring and you know uh nonetheless I live one house away from the Bicardo family and I want to share my experience as a neighbor in the culdesac. Our neighborhood has always been a place where children can safely play outside together. The kids ride bikes, play basketball, swim and spend time in the culde-sac. It keeps them off electronics, teaches them teamwork, social skills and respect for one another. What has been very concerning to many of us is the repeated calls to the police about children simply playing outside during normal daytime and evening hours well before 10 p.m. I want to commend our local police officers who have consistently recognized that these children are not breaking any laws and are simply enjoying being kids and they come and say continue till 10:00. However, the situation has reached a point where the children feel intimidated and uncomfortable. Several of them, including my own, have come home upset after being yelled at while playing in the middle of the day for activities as simple as playing pingpong or listening to music. Um, Deborah yelled at them for that in the middle of the day. So, uh, our entire culde-sac community supports these kids and values having a neighborhood where children can safely gather and play. The sense of community is something we should be encouraging, not discouraging. Another serious concern is the filming of the neighborhood children and posting those videos online. Many parents, including myself, are extremely uncomfortable with our children being recorded and shared publicly without consent. This raises legitimate safety and privacy concerns. One of my favorite things about living in the neighborhood is simply sitting outside and watching the kids laugh, play, enjoy their childhood together.

That's what a healthy community should look like. I respectfully ask the county to consider the broader impact this situation is having on families and children in our neighborhood and to support a resolution that allows kids to play safely while maintaining reasonable community standards. Thank you.

Good morning. My name is Frank Bradfield. I'm a retired Army veteran and I appreciate the time to talk today. I want to begin by acknowledging that the city certainly has the authority to regulate matters such as noise, safety, and nuisance concerns. However, the authority is not unlimited. Municipal ordinances must remain consistent with the Florida Constitution, Florida statutes, and federal law. And they must also be reasonable in how they affect everyday residential life. As I understand it, the purpose of the municipal regulation is to address true nuis nuisances and safety concerns, not to restrict normal residential activity that has been part of neighborhood life. Playing basketball in the backyard during normal hours is a typical and long-standing residential activity. Families reasonably expect that children playing yard games and outdoor recreation are part of normal residential neighborhoods. Courts have repeatedly held that local regulations must have a clear connection to public health, safety, and welfare. When regulations begin to restrict ordinary family, recreation, and private property, it raises legitimate concerns and questions and about whether the regulation is reasonable or unnecessarily interest. Importantly, the city already has tools available. If noise or lighting becomes excessive, existing nuisance and lighting ordinance can address those situations. creating a new ordinance that targets specific recreational activities risk becoming selective and unnecessary regulations. There's also an important property rights consideration under the Bur J. Harris Jr. Private Property Rights Protection Act. Government's actions that originally burden the normal use of private property can expose municipalities to legal claims. Backyard recreation, such as children playing basketball during normal hours, would generally be considered a reasonable residential use of property. With respect to the proposed lighting restrictions, limiting recreational lighting until dusk may also have unintended consequences. In winter months, dusk can occur before 6 p.m.,

which would effectively eliminate after school recreation for many families for several months of the year. It also raises fairness concerns. Many homes use outdoor lighting for landscaping, pools, patios, docks, and other backyard uses after dark. Singling out recreational lighting for different treatment causes inconsistency in how similar residential activities are regulated. There's also a practical issue of enforcement. Ordinances that are difficult to clearly define and force often create more problems than they solve. For those reasons, I would respectfully ask the council to consider whether existing nuisance and lighting regulations already provide adequate tools without adopting new restrictions and unnecessary limits normal residential activity. And I would also ask for the record whether the city attorney has evaluated whether a proposal could raise property rights concern under Florida, including the Bar J. Harris Junior prop property rights protection act and whether the city has conducted any analysis of that potential impact before adopting such regulation.

If the analysis has not yet been completed, I would respectfully encourage the council to take additional time to review the potential legal and property right implications before adopting any new restrictions. Cities across Florida have learned that when ordinance is unintentionally normal use of property they can expose the unne unnecessary legal challenges and costs. I would encourage the council to proceed carefully. Thank you. That kind of risk.

Thank you. Hi, my name is uh Gabriel and I live in PGI neighborhood. Most of us in the culde-sac are busy with school and sports like baseball and soccer. We usually don't even get home until around 3:30 or 4:00. And sometimes we have practice until 8:00 at night because that because of that, the only real time we have to hang out together is a little while before bedtime. When we are home, we like we ride bikes and play basketball, play pingpong, and sometimes games like Mana. Our parents already already make us make us come inside around 8:30 to 9:00 because we have school the next day. When the police first starting showing up, I was honestly scared. We thought something seriously serious serious had happened last year when my grandma passed away. The police and ambulance came to our house and when I saw police cars, it makes me nervous. Now we're realize we've realized they're coming because someone keeps calling about kids playing outside. We're not being loud late at night or doing anything wrong. We're just kids playing after school. Another thing that makes us uncomfortable is being filmed out while we're outside playing. No kid wants to worry about being recorded and put online just for playing in their neighborhood. We're just just asking to be able to spend a little time out outside together after school and sports

without being afraid someone will call the police. Thank you for listening.

Hi, I live in PGI. I want you to know that what you heard about me, my family, and my house are lies. At the last meeting, some council members, and some people at the meeting said that they wanted to get our house under control. They accused us of being loud in our yard all day and all night. This isn't true. We don't get to play in our yard too much because we have to go to school and have to go to our sports and we have early bedtimes. When we do play in the yard, we have so much fun. We do not have a 25 ft light that is on all day at night. We don't have a 25 ft light at all. My mom says that we should respect our neighbors and not bother them. But she also says that people who live in the town are not entitled to complete silence or darkness. If they want that, they should move to the countryside. Please do not make rules to take that fun away from us. Also, please stop believing and repeating lies. I don't know why adults would repeat things that are not true. I am mad that adults lie about kids at a meeting. I watched the YouTube video where when you discussed my brothers and me. I thought it was weird that you talked about us being trouble. I was also mad at the way you laughed at us and mocked us. I was mad about one other thing. Why does the city council think it is just my house where people are playing outside? Why is it only my house that needs new rules? That is what you said, but many of my friends in town also like to play in their yard. Why can't I? Is it just that they have nicer neighbors or is it that you don't listen to their neighbors at the meeting like you have listened to ours? One more thing. It seems like Punet Gorda doesn't want kids around at all. The kids here today that you are trying to stop from playing outside are the kids of six doctors who live in Puna Gorda. Don't you want us to live here so that our parents can take care of you guys if you get sick? Lastly, is Wend Wendy Mueller here today? I would like the publicity I would

Hi. I would like the p I would like the public to thank her. be because she came to the last meeting and asked the council to rethink her decision to rethink their decision on restricting kids from playing. Thank you. Hello, I'm Maria Compton. I also live in PGI. At the last council meeting, it was my family who is a discussion of your sports court agenda item. The discussion was how to ban kids of a, and I quote, single property in Ponta Gorda from playing in their yard. Actually, the words were, "It is long overdue to get control of this situation. The last council meeting was full of slanderous lies and accusations about my kids. Any report of my family interfering with the well-being of any of our neighbors is an outright lie." for history. My family was first discussed at this council meeting in June of 2024. At that time, the council was about to burn ban sports in houses because the family that we have plays basketball, volleyball, soccer, and swims in our yard. At that meeting, your mayor, who was a council member at the time, without ever meeting us, flippantly called us the bad apples. Um, she also responded to my email of concern about the way the discussion was handled at the time that there's two sides to every story. At your last meeting when you discussed our family again, why was our side of the story not requested? Why at that meeting was the council doing everything they could to quickly pass an ordinance to control how I used my yard without my input? Perhaps that it's two sides of every story comment that I received was a lie as well. Why should I be surprised that someone on this council would lie? You lied about my kids. You lied about how we used our yards. And you lied about

what lighting we have. What is the gain here? We're not hurting anyone. No one needs relief from us. To use the words of a council member who needs relief from us, how on earth did you think it was okay to play a video of my kids playing and talking in their yard at your city council meeting?

I am horrified that this video is now on the public YouTube's channel of the city council. You played it at my at this meeting without my knowledge or consent. Even worse, you snickered and you mocked my kids while you were watching the video. Does that make you feel powerful? One comment that was made during that video was, "What is it, a rec center? This is my rec center." Okay, you have met them. Kids who are innocent. They're not doing drugs. They are not vandalizing others property. They are not stealing or hurting others. And they're not playing violent video games. You mocked them because they were playing in their yard. You didn't get my consent to share that video at the meeting and you didn't let me know that my yard was your agenda for that meeting either. I will end with quoting the motion that was first made at this meeting last in the last meeting. The motion was first on the table to and I quote ban play and recreational lighting in Pontaorta after dusk. Really? A ban on play? You gave a predator a platform to influence you and you mocked, laughed at, and snickered at a video of my kids playing in their yard. That is not leadership. Good morning members of the city council. My name is Hakeim Bokardo. I'm a member of the family. I'm 18 years old and I live in Punagorta. And I truly believe that childhood is a period of life which should be exciting, innocent, but above all things, it should be fun. Thankfully, I can now look upon those years of my life and firmly say that they were above all things fun. However, I still wish this upon my brothers and the rest of Punagorta's children. Unfortunately for my brothers, play has

not only not been fun, but it has become something scary, as you have heard, because unfortunately, we have a neighbor who was a predator. For more than 5 years, she has been taking pictures and videos of my brother's friends and I. My parents have told me to ignore her, so we have. She then went through spurts of time that she would call the police as we were playing. The police told us to ignore her as well. And so we did. She even sent a petition around to our other neighbors to sign in 2024 an attempt to hurt our family. The neighbors also ignored her. Now she has resorted to come to you, the people who are meant to lead our city. She spread lies about our family and you listened. Then you gave her a platform to talk and show videos of our family. We ignored the predator. The police ignored the predator. Our neighbors ignored the predator, but you elevated her and even passed a new ordinance based on her complaints. This is not what a group of leaders is supposed to do. You aren't supposed to elevate the rant of a predator. You aren't supposed to play videos and audio of kids without the consent of their parents. And you aren't supposed to hastily pass new rules based on the desires of one predator. My family, my neighbors, and the Punaorta police have recognized that this predator was not in the right Her complaints were unfounded and her actions were inappropriate. So I ask you, why can't you city leaders do the same? I certainly want kids to attribute play with something fun and not something scary. And I certainly hope you do, too. Our future Jim

batteries. There we go. Great. Awesome. Hello, my name is Silent and me and my friends, right, we don't really have anything to do after school because we get home around like 4:00, 3:30 and then we have to do homework for about 2 hours and like some of my friends have said dusk is around like 6:00 half of the year. So if the lights are off, we don't really have anything to do. We cannot go to Gilchrist, play basketball or like throw the football around. So, we just like stay inside, play video games, which uh is not very good for your health. And I was just gonna say having the lights off makes no sense cuz it creates social skills and teamwork. And that's pretty much it.

Thank you. My name is Juliana Percent and um kids um they shouldn't have to come in at 6:00 or like when the sun goes down because like usually their bedtimes are like 9:30 and that leaves like hours of them just not really be able to do anything and like they can't run around and like get their energy out. So then sometimes that can like it can like affect their health and it can also like using video games to like take up that time. It can have like mental health effects and it can like make it hard for them to socialize when they get older and they won't be able to like make friends because they can't go outside and like play with other kids. And from a kid's point of view, um, sports courts and lights, they aren't just for play, but they're also learning social skills and how to like win a game or how to lose a game and not overreact. And they're also learning how to be more respectful to other people. And it can make an even bigger difference when you account for the fact that it can also create more social bonds. And it can really have positive mental health effects. And um I understand that neighbors worry about lights and noises, but they shouldn't have they shouldn't have to kids shouldn't have to be worrying about um police being called on them. They shouldn't have to worry about getting yelled at for just wanting to play outside. And also play is how like they can exercise and they can become

stronger physically and it can also like keep them from like being lazy when they get older. And we're asking you to like we're asking you to see what we see when we go to parks and like how it really does affect us when like if you did pass this and like we wouldn't be able to go outside and like it really would affect our mental and physical health. And please, I'm really asking you to support kids playing outside.

Good morning, city council. My name is Abraham Mills, and I do not understand why this ordinance is being enacted. Because why would we require lights to be on? Why can lights only be on from dusk to dawn if that is when we have the sun? Most students get home from school around 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. That does not include clubs, sports, dinner, and homework. By time by the time those things are finished, at least for me, it is usually around 6:00 p.m. at the minimum. During the fall and winter, it is already past dark by then. Because Gilchrist Park closes at dusk and there are no lights allowed on courts or field if we pass this ordinance. This means I could not safely play outside with my friends after finishing my responsibilities. So, I have to stay inside even when the weather is finally cool enough to enjoy being outdoors. The only other option is to spend that time playing video games or staying inside. I enjoy video games, but playing them for hours every night I know is not healthy for me. Parks and sports courts should encourage kids to be active, spend times with friends, and get involved in the community. This ordinance negatively affects the children and families of Panugorta. So I ask you, city council, why should families like ours stay in this city? And why should I raise a family in this city if my children cannot play?

Hi, good morning. Thank you uh council members for hearing us. My name is Melissa Wahlberg. Uh, and my spouse Ivor Percent and I live in Pontagorta Isles. Um, and our three kids spoke this morning about the proposed ordinance. I was blessed to have grown up in Puntaorta. I've been here since 1991 and in fact played at Nancy Palmer's house with her son Roger when I was in middle school and high school. And when I decided to raise a family, I chose Pontaorta because of the amazing childhood that I was able to have here running around Pontagorta Isles. I grew up on right off of Coronado on on Rio Lisbo. I think that it is important to create uh ordinances that of course are going to to protect our neighborhoods. We need to be able to do this in a way that it has balance so that our children can enjoy being outside without feeling threatened. I hope that you really consider the voices of the children that you have heard today. They are only a slim number of the total voices out there. Uh and especially the voice of Dr. Compton as a registered nurse and again my husband is a a physician here in town. How are we supposed to continue to recruit professionals to care for the members of our community if we're creating an environment that isn't welcoming to families. So, uh, thank you for your consideration. Have a wonderful day.

Hi, my name is Bert Wahberg. Uh, lived here since 1991 in the community. You've heard from my daughter, my grandkids, Dr. Cochran's kids. What you're doing to our younger generation is not right. I can remember when we first moved here getting out of the moving van and our neighbors looking at my daughters. Who are these people? And that we've been good to this community. We've supported this community. I can remember younger when they were young, Gilrest used to have the lights on for the basketball courts. You could drive there at 6:30, 7 o'clock in the evening, see the kids out enjoying themselves, not doing anything to anybody else. We've also seen the demographic here change considerably. We've got a lot more younger families moving into the area. We need to support these families and their children. We need to have maybe some more parks around where they can enjoy their activities and play. And I ask council to reconsider this. It's it's a sorry state of affairs where we're headed with this. And all I can do is ask. Thank you. Hi, good morning. Kathleen Davis, PGI. I had no idea this was going to be happening today, and I wasn't at the meeting where it happened, but um and I don't really I don't know these these people, but I don't live far away from

them. I live on Hibiscus, right around the corner from the court. So, um and I've seen a few of the kids in the street. They're very respectful and nice walking past me. They were very actually very nice kids, but they probably don't even remember seeing me. But I'm a little worried about this ordinance because um my husband and I are in our 70s. We like to play. We're retired. We want to play outside. IT'S NOT YEAH, we retired here. We like to have parties. We like to go to parties. We have parties in our house. The last party we had, there was a 7-month-old and there was an 89year-old and I took a picture with the two of them together and there was everything in between and we had absolute blast. The only reason we were not playing outside in the lai. We had the table set up in the lai cuz we had too many people really and and the reason we were not outside is because we had a sudden heat wave and it was over 80. So we had the band in the house. So otherwise the band might have been on the lai and we probably would have had the police call for us cuz old people like to play and old people like to be out in their yards too. Thank you.

Good morning, Mayor Lux, city council members. My name is Betsy Ren and I'm a a resident of Pontagora Isles. I'm here this morning to present an alternative view to the light and noise pollution that is across from Beayshore Court. I don't live directly across. I live about 5 minutes away, but I'm often on Beayshore Court visiting with friends. We like to barbecue. We like to have dinner on the lai. We like to enjoy the water views. We like to sit and enjoy the peace and the tranquility. That is not to say that we do not want children playing outside and having fun. We do. But not to the detriment of the entire neighborhood. I'm not the only one that has voiced objections to the light and noise pollution coming from hibiscus. It is intrusive. It is loud and much different from what you've heard from previous testimony. It is a nuisance. Doesn't have to be all the time. We're not saying we don't want children playing and having fun, but it doesn't have to be from 7:30 in the morning until 11 at night. The other residents

have the other residents have a right to the peaceful enjoyment of their property. Now, this basketball court across from Beayshore is commercially sized, and there's sometimes four basketballs going at once with maybe eight, 10 children playing there. You all bought in Pontagorta for a reason. Everyone loves the water and the tranquility. Sound carries more across the water. That's just a fact. It's the way it is. I'm not against the play, but simply one household dictating what should be for the rest of the neighborhood. People adjacent to the property and people across the water from the property are affected. I've been a guest over at Debbie Codlesa's house at 160 Bayshore Court. I have heard the yelling. I've heard belligerent comments and I've heard today in this meeting people slandering her and calling her a predator. That is not true and it shouldn't have been repeated in this council meeting eight or 10 times. Slander. To make matters worse, a new double spot was installed that shines directly into every room on the back of our house. You would not want that. No one would want that.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor, mayor, please. I'm not doing that. Please, everybody.

All right. My name is Robin Bane and I have been a 25 year resident of Panagorta. I live at 150 Bayhore Court and I'm right across from their pool area, the you know where they play pingpong, volleyball, all those good things. I have lived there for nine years. They have been nothing but good neighbors. They've had plenty of cute parties for their kids. Everything has really gong just fine. I've never had a complaint at all until Thanksgiving about two and a half years ago. All of a sudden, there was this court And all we had happened for probably two or three four months were kids playing basketball non-stop all the time. I had guests for Thanksgiving on Milai. We had to go inside because it the noise was just so incredible. Now I've met with Melissa Lockheart and with Debbie and we've asked you know is there anything we can do about this especially the lighting? Originally they had like stadium lighting and he they just went against anything we asked them to do. First of all, they never got asked for any certification to have this done. Anything they told them to do, they went around it. And they've just been so vindictive in the way they've handled this. It's And all these kids coming up here and talking about lies. You're using children to come up here and slander people. It's just it's incredible to me. I'm a citizen of this community. I'm the president of the board of the Virginia Beandes Clinic. I have good standing in this committee in this community. And I'm just saying what they're saying is really not true. This isn't it's it's very irritating. What is going to happen when somebody puts a pickle ball court?

You know what happened at Gil Crest Park? You know the issues that were there. This is a huge nuisance for us. If I was Debbie, I would have moved. And it's it's it just continues to go on. And the neighbors refuse to cooperate. And you know, you've had so many kids here. I mean, they all play on that basketball court. It's like this is not a neighbor, this is not a neighbor's house basketball court. This is a community basketball court and the noise I can't go out in my lai when the when they're saying they can come out and play is when I'm trying to enjoy my evenings outside and the basketball is really irritating and I'm just the w it carries across the water and I think we should be able to come to some reasonable reasonable way to fix this for everybody to get along. I mean, this family's been lovely for the seven years, and then all of a sudden, this has come up and it has been horrific and very upsetting to have to deal with. And I'm sorry. I'm very sorry because these are nice kids, but you have to consider other people, too. Thank you.

Thank you. My name is John.

My name is John Kingsbury. Um, I spent 50 years in community banking and 50 years in community development, 30 years on a planning and zoning commission. I know the issues you're dealing with. I know the issues about developing a progressive community, trying to find community development. I understand all these things. So, I know what you're dealing with and it's hard to please everyone. But sometimes you try to please one at the cost of many. And I urge you not to do that. We live one door away from all these terrible troublemakers. Our backyard can hear their commercial basketball court for the whole neighborhood. It's ridiculous. People, we sit in our backyard and have lights that I'll bet somebody across my canal doesn't like. The people at the end of our canal have parties at midnight and their lights are on. Come all the way down our canal. I have had more problems hearing adults at midnight than I've ever had with these kids. This issue is wrong. There are better ways to solve personal vendettas

and this is not it. So, I urge you to carefully pay attention to not this one issue. Let the police deal with it. They've already said it's not an issue. Let people like this neighbor who I've never met. Either move to a 55 plus community, which is simple. There's plenty of them. I don't want it in my neighborhood. We love the six kids on our street. And when we found out there were six little kids maybe on the street when we'd been there 10 years, that's exactly what I wanted.

Getting old is tough enough.

I want to be around kids and stay young. Good morning, madame mayor and members of the city council. My name is Debbie Kodallesa and I'm a full-time resident of Ponagorta. I'm going to skip part of my pre-prepared statement and and just address some of the other things. First off, I don't call the police on the kids for playing in their yard. If I have, it's because it's been happening late at night at the basketball court, sometimes 11:30, quarter to midnight. Um, I don't like calling the police. I'm retired law enforcement. I think they have much better things to do. Recently, somebody has been playing very loud music, and I mean very loud music, um, during the day. And one time I asked and they turned it down. And another time I did have to call the police because I got no response when I tried to ask them politely across the canal. Anyway, this sports court was constructed without permits. Due to lack of response from the city at the time and absent any regulations in the LDRs, the cement court surface was permitted, but only after the fact. It sits directly across from my home. Several other homeowners at the last meeting, this meeting, and and via email have expressed their concerns about the negative impact of the noise and bright lights. I believe reasonable of operations, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. should provide a balance and a compromise between the homeowner's use of the sports court and the peaceful enjoyment of properties for the rest of us. The children would have 10 hours a day every day to play on the court. Holidays, school breaks, summer break, whatever you want. And and just to reiterate, when those kids have played in the yard for 5 years, I lived across from them. I never had a problem. They played late at night, played soccer, played volleyball, had pool parties. I have no problem with

the kids playing. In fact, just the other day, one of their balls floated across to my dock. And I scooped it out and drove it back over and politely returned it to him. The kid was very polite. He said, "Thank you." And I told him, "Have a nice day." I don't have a problem with the kids, but if I even go out on my lai, I'm being yelled at and being say, you know, oh, we see you and don't don't take pictures of us. I want to state for the record. I have never shared those pictures with anything online. Not Facebook, not anything. Okay? I don't believe that's appropriate. Okay? They're kids. I've documented this issue to bring it before the city council. And that's that. If the operating hours were to end at dusk or later, for those of us directly impacted by the sports court, myself included, would effectively be taking away our right to the peaceful enjoyment of our property until after dark every day. And I believe I have the right to enjoy my property. By limiting the use of the sports court to between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., this would provide us with a few hours of relief in the early morning and in the evening from the playground level noise generated by the sports court. significantly less than the 10 hours of playtime they would be allotted. For comparison, the public pickle ball courts at Gilchrist Park operate from 8 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. or dusk, whichever is earlier. And let's face it, the noise levels at Gilchrist Park are much higher than what most people expect to hear on their own waterfront lenai. I personally didn't move to Panagorta to live across from a public wreck or playground. I don't have a problem with the kids playing. It's the projected noise from the basketball court that is very annoying. Thank you very much. Cindy O'Hara, 29 years in PGI and visiting PGI since 1979 when my parents purchased there and then

continued to invest in the community, buying lots of waterfront homes and properties in Pontagora Isles and then turned around and bought a lot of commercial down 17 and Dunkin Donuts is one of our tenants. My parents both passed, but my very smart investor father did some great things for his family, his seven children. I have a grandson that I'm raising four days a week, three day, three nights, four nights a week. And uh I'm all for the children. I actually had no idea this family that were that people were upset with is a family that I know very well and have known for about a decade now. And it's a great family. They're wonderful people. We also, my family owned a house. We sold a couple years ago on on Hibiscus Drive just a few houses away from where this controversy is going on. You know, I understand the the need for peace uh because I remember visiting in the like late uh or 80s and my mother telling me to be quiet, us kids to be quiet. They had seven children visit them from Pennsylvania and I was in Connecticut and uh they would say, you know, be quiet. Everybody can hear you across the canal. So, it does echo. I know that for a fact. You know, when you're speaking just at a regular tone, the people across the canal can hear everything you're saying. This was not what I came up here to speak about. The council knows what I would be speaking about right now, but I think they have plenty of information on the Bayfront Center site. I want I don't want to see a a pavilion there. Bottom line, that's not the place to put a pil pavilion. Again, my arguments are we already have five pavilions, three that sit empty almost all the time. We don't need this gigantic eyesore about the

size of this room sitting on prime harbor front property. If you're going to put it somewhere, put it at Lashley Park on the harbor. That would make sense. We have all kinds of festivals going on there. There's never anywhere any shade, anywhere to sit. That would be the place to put it. And now you found out after all this design, five or six months of bringing the town, the new town planners that have only been here for a year and don't know enough to even be making decisions on that site. Now all of a sudden, oh well, we didn't realize we have to have bathrooms in order to rent that pavilion out. I mean, it's been a sloppy mess. And I'll tell you, mayor, you need to stop. You want to control everything and you don't want to bring in the experts and the people we need to make decisions. I don't I am not comfortable with you making decisions or three members on this or two other two other members on this committee that haven't been here for even 5 years. We have problems here and it needs to stop. You need to have public hearings and you need to put it out to the people. My name is Mike Pulk. I was born here. I lived here in the 60s. Okay. I was personally friends with some of the developers and founders of Pontagor Isles. And they weren't retirees. They were young men in their 30s and 40s with families. And PGI was a family community during the 60s and 70s. Al John's had a full court fullsize regulation basketball court next to his house. Okay. On a lot he owned. Sam Burchers, one of the other founders, had a full-size basketball court or tennis court on the lot next to his home. Okay. So, I don't know where

we came, how we got from uh what was allowed during the 60s and 70s to now because obviously they're the ones who drafted all the deed restriction and everything for that development. Okay? I grew up here. This used to be a kid-friendly area. Okay? But we have this pull up the ladder, I'm in the boat mentality here where we don't want to have lights on sports courts in Gilchrist Park. I grew up at that scout house. Okay? I spent a lot of my time at that scout house. I was really upset. Some of you don't even know what the scout house is. That was the Bayfront Center. Okay? I played basketball till 10 11:00 at night because we didn't have anything else in Buen Gordon. We played tennis. You could have tennis tokens and you could play tennis at Gilrest Park till 8 until till 10:00. Okay. My parents lived on Red Essenade. My great-grandmother lived on Red Esplanade. Okay. They lived across from the park. When I was growing up in the 60s, we had little league baseball and men's softball on Gilchrist Park, lighted fields. Okay, but we've evolved to this ret to this retirement community. We don't want to have anybody out after dark. Okay, that's part of the problem. The kids have nowhere to go. This town shuts down at 6:00. We need to have lighted sports courts like we had for decades. Okay,

we had for decades. Okay, it's it's ridiculous. How are you going to draw young people, young families to this community, okay? Unless you have, you know, amenities for these kids. Okay, who want, you know, you don't have to be have to entertain your kid, you know, 24 hours a day. You want to be able to say, "Okay, safe community. I'll drop them off at Gilchrist. And that's how we were. We were latch ski, you know. Our parents would pick us up at the scout house or at the baseball fields, okay? And they drop us off. And that's what we did. And that's what we need, okay? And I think that the mentality of this community has to change. The baby boomers, I've told you the oldest baby boomers two years ago were 78. They're dying off. So who you going to replace those people with? Okay. You better start getting kid-friendly and you better change the attitude. I don't know how this got put on the agenda, but I'd sure like to know how and who put it on the agenda.

Good morning. Good morning. My name is Nel Hyde. for a little change of pace. I know the subject of hurricane panels, especially on the front walls of the city hall, have been questioned in past council meetings. I know that a reason that was given is the need to prolong the life of failing or near failing air conditioning units used to regulate the humidity within the building in an attempt to prevent the formation of destructive mold. Perhaps this is a question of cost versus benefit. The cost is the unsightly presence for a number of years of steel panels that greatly distract from the beauty of this historic building. The shuttered appearance of this building is viewed regularly by residents, possible home buyers, tourists, and one-day visitors to our community. The benefit is thought to be a possible reduction in the perceived additional costs associated with the formation of mold if the panels are not in place to provide shade against the sun. But I think we are missing two important part uh points here. First, heat does not cause mold. Humidity causes mold. Heat actually inhibits mold. In fact, mold growth slowly slows dramatically as temperatures rise above 100° centigrade and mold spores actually die at temperatures above 120°. Panels do not control humidity. Therefore, blocking sunlight does not prevent mold. Now, there may be some valid concerns regarding the sunlight, but I do not believe they have anything to do with mold. These are the panels could reduce the fading of interior contents like

flooring, paint, and historic materials if they are currently in salvageable condition. The panels might also reduce thermal expansion and contraction that could damage old plaster, windows, and trim. Again, these might be valid, but I don't believe they have anything to do with mold. So, back to our cost benefit analysis. The cost is the unsightly presence of hurricane panels that greatly distract from the beauty of this historic building. The benefit could be to reduce the possible fading of interior contents uh in interior contents and a possible reduction to damage to old plaster windows and trim if they are currently in a salvageable condition. My goal here is to asssure the city council makes the best possible decision on removing these panels after evaluating the true costs and benefits of removing them. Thank you very much.

Good morning, council. My name is Mariano Verico. I reside at 170 Beayshore Court. I'm directly across the canal from 2167 Hibiscus. I've lived there since 2022 and I've been there alone and living there since 2023. I still live there today and I will continue to live there as long as I shall. My house is directly across from where the children play basketball. I see everything they do, play volleyball, kickball and enjoy being children. things that we used to do when we were children or at least can remember. And yes, I'm 65 years old, but I'm not dead yet. Restrictions on playing are just absolutely disrespectful to the children and the growth of our community.

Some inconsistencies. Miss Kodallesa was up here February 25th, 2026 complaining about noise, children playing, and having a good time. Why would you restrict such? She stated she's a retired law enforcement person. Well, they should know that videotaping or recording or taking pictures of minor children is wrong. And even though she states she does not, I can tell you that she does because I am also surveiled. I have cameras pointing on my pool yard private area on my house directly from her home to mine. Those tapes and videos, as told to me by my soon-to-be ex-husband, have been given to him. He knew who I was seeing. He sees license plates. He's got copies of everything. And she smiles there because

I think we need to keep on topic. Thank you. This is topic. This is topic. It's about surveillance. Criticize ideas, not people.

Okay. It's about It is about surveillance. Thank you. She sends this information to the children. She gives this information to you who are trying to do things for the for the children who want to actually have a good time and the children's hours are limited. They're not out there at 7:30 in the morning. I invite you all to come to my home in the evening. You see, I live directly across. That light doesn't affect me. Matter of fact, when my doors are shut, I don't even hear them. The bouncing of the ball, the noise, the screaming, the yelling that's people say there are, it's not. and they play. Open my doors. I go across and kids are at the pool. Hi, Mario. Hi, Mario. Hi, Mr. Mario. You know what is it that we're doing here? Also, by the way, my ex-husband was here, soon to be ex-husband was here on the same date that Miss Klesa was. How could the sun or the light bother him? He does not reside at 170 Bayhore Court. He is sometimes a guest at 160 Bit Shore Court, but he does not reside. So, how would it affect his sleep when her home is basically set up totally different than mine? The back of her house.

No more further said, but I appreciate your time. Thank you so much,

Mayor. When there's no other public comments, I'm I know it's unusual for us to respond, but I think because we have people here, I'm going to have a statement. I'm going to read. Do we have consensus to let Lockhart speak? Yes, that's fine.

And I wrote it down just to be to be clear. So obviously emotional situation and the situation has grown bigger than anybody anticipated. To be clear, not one person said that people or children cannot play outside, enjoy the property. No one has suggested restricting play. This discussion was about a structure that was built in a backyard in a residential community that can accommodate more people, which would naturally could lead to more increased noise and activity. Because of that, it raises question about whether does our current code accurately define or should we regulate regulate something like a sports court. We may need to clearly define what a sports court is, including maybe considerations such as size, lighting, potential noise impacts. It may also be appropriate to look at things like noise abatement measures or specific lighting standards to ensure that nearby residents are not negatively affected. For reference, our construction hours for people with mowers and all that good stuff is currently 6 uh 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., I believe. And I would need to confirm what the specific regulations are for Gil Gilchrist. At the end of the day, this is about finding a reasonable compromise so that everybody can enjoy their property while also respecting the peaceful enjoyment of their neighbors. And I would just like to say I have never said that kids should not play outside. I would never be in favor of restricting. This is something that is unusual that's been built and that's why it was brought up. That's it.

I'll ask for a probably a 10 minute. Madam go. Madam Mayor, could I have 20 seconds? You had fortunately spoken. 20 seconds to You've already spoken at the Yeah. At the end of the meeting, sir, you can actually speak again. Yeah. Yeah. We have a 10-minute mayor. I just I just want to point out that sir, you're not you're not recognized. I Sir, you're not recognized. I can't hear you. So, forget it. Why don't Why don't you come talk to us individually, sir, if you'd like to? Okay, we're getting ready to take a break. So, we're we're going to take a break. So, you can come have a chance to speak and we did not close. Yeah. If she hasn't sp Yeah, please. Absolutely.

This is a separate issue. Come on.

This is Good morning, council members and Punaorta city management and staff. I'm Kim Kitkco and I'm speaking on behalf of Halo which stands for homeowners against landfill odors. This group consists of residents from multiple communities in North Lee and South Charlotte counties. It was formed last year specifically to stop the odors emanating from the waste connections SLD landfill. In emails sent on March 2nd and March 5th, Halo provided you with a notice and alert regarding the SLD landfill on Zimmel Road. For over a decade, this landfill has been in violation of state laws and a 2016 consent decree. There are obnoxious H2S gases that percolate from the dump. And when the wind blows the right way, we all get to smell rotten eggs on Highway 41 and in the surrounding neighborhoods where these obnoxious odors affect our health, quality of life, and most certainly our property values. But we have an opportunity here. We finally have an opportunity to put an end to this situation. A new FD and SLD consent order is on the verge of being signed. This consent order is better than 2016, but still does not include best practices, measurable and enforcable parameters or third-party oversight. Interested parties like Halo, like the city, like individuals and communities will have 21 days to respond and give input on the consent order once it is signed. This is our ask. Halo seeks PunaGortis um city of Punaorta's consideration to file a petition for administrative hearing to support stronger terms and enforcement mechanisms in the new consent order.

It's critical that we unite to stop the stink now before the dump doubles and triples in size. Yes, it it it this surprises me, but they are only on phase five, but they are permitted to expand to phase 11. I'm going to repeat that. They're on phase five. They're expanding to phase 11. So, now's our chance to get this fixed. Halo has spent the last month educating all stakeholders impacted by landfill odor and asking them to support Halos and the FD's goal of having the strongest possible consent order. If you look at the little diagram I handed out, it's all of us together that are going to get this consent order fixed. We've been working with the FD for eight months now. We need the community, um, the developers, the district, the county, and the city to weigh in on this consent order. And we know it works when you guys all come together as one because the city of Bushnell, which is right up from us in Sumpter County, has had a lot of success in regulating waste connections, their waste connections, um, as well. and they've been able to get Waste Connections to develop a corrective action plan in less than 90 days that included enhanced odor

control. Thank you so much for your time and attention to the matter. The laws and technology exist. They already exist to make this landfill a good neighbor. Thank you. Appreciate it. only. Anybody else? Yep. Okay.

Hello. I'm Michael Brown. I'm also from Halo. I wasn't sure she was going to get through all through her three minutes, but uh a couple things I do want to make sure that well, you know, but I want everybody to know that Zl Road area is now under massive development uh through the Fire Light program and then the Zlope um uh uh building project. They've I've heard numbers up to 6,000 homes. Right now, they have uh at least 700 going in there. They're closer than all the other communities right now. And the other communities are it's just terrible when the wind blows the wrong way. We've been working with the Charlotte County um commissioners. There's a commissioner out there. He goes, "Yeah, you just can't drive down 41. It stinks every day."

Nobody has uh we don't we need the we have the right to not smell that. And that's what we're asking for for help for this. 21 days is going to be very, very important. If you have any questions, please reach out to Kim or myself. We have attorneys, we have chemists, we have everybody working on this Halo project. Um, we're going to need your support. So, please consider that. Thank you. Thank you.

Do we have anybody else who wants to speak this morning? Okay, we're going to take a 10-minute break.

Oh, no. No. And we're so sorry that you know

Who knows? I thought this isn't not a controversial day. Okay, this next piece on the agenda is going to be public hearing and it's legislative. Mr. Esco,

item number 3A, SV-01-2025, a request by Sentoshi, Inc. property owner to vacate a utility easement located between lots one through four and lots five and nine, block 36, city of Pagora according according to the plot thereof in plot book one, page 13 of the public records of Charlotte County, Florida.

Good morning, council. Rachel Barry, zoning official for the record. So, the property in question, the one that is, um, highlighted in yellow on the screen, that is 207 Wood Street, uh, Brown Street, excuse me. And the adjacent property to the left on the corner of Marian and Wood, uh, that does not have an assigned address, but it is parcel 4123642011. When you look at the map, it appears that there is still an alleyway there, but in 1997, that alley was vacated. Uh the resolution is included in the staff report that was in the packets. And in that resolution, when they vacated the alley, it reserved a utility easement in its place. So, the alley technically is not there. And the applicant is requesting to vacate the easement uh for a proposed uh development. and staff does support the request to vacate the easement. It was heard by the planning commission on February 23rd, 2026, who voted unanimously to recommend approval of the request. And if there are no questions for me, the applicant is here and has a presentation as well.

Do any questions for Rachel? No.

I move to approve. We still have Oh, public comment. Okay. Do you want Do you want to come up and say anything? No, I'm just here to answer questions if needed. Okay. Okay. So, we do have this open to the public. Anybody want to speak on this topic? Want to close it? Move to close public comment. Do you have a second? Second. Okay. So, all in favor? I. Okay. Public comment disclosed. We have any discussion on this? Janice move to approve 3A. I'll second. Okay, we have a motion and a second to approve it. All in favor?

I oppose. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. Again, 3B is tit is tabled. So, next is 3C legislative.

ZA-3-2026 proposed amendment to chapter 26 article 3.4 four and 3.5 to allow for the possible expansion of the general single family and general multifamily districts and require multifamily structures within the GM districts to comply with article 7 with exceptions. This is the first reading. Sorry, Carl Ben, urban design for the record. trying to figure out. All right. Good morning. I think uh here we're today we're here to talk about the land development regulation text amendment for the general single family and general multif family district changes. Kind of to give you some history on this during the research and review of the upcoming future land use and reszone. Uh staff became aware of this text issue. While it is necessary to make these changes uh to move forward with the upcoming future land use and reszoning, um this discovery does bring to light an issue that was existing in the text that would eventually need to be amended. Anyway, for example, if we were to annex any large portion that had a single family or multif family zoning uh that need to be designated to it, we don't currently have the ability to designate that. So, we would need to make this amendment if that was to happen. So, we're just doing that now as a part of this whole process. So, with that, we're looking at section 3.4, the general single family

residential district, and we're looking at the uh bottom of the section where it says the district is intended to is not intended to be available for future resonings, nor is it means of expanding the boundaries of existing GS districts. You can see to the bottom, this is what staff is proposing is just to strike through that verbiage on the general single family. Same thing with 3.5, the general multif family residential district. We have the same verbiage at the end of that section. If you look down into the middle, it shows the verbage that planning or that urban design is proposing. And we're proposing that the district is not intended for limited future use and limited expansions. So certain conditions um can cause that. We're also wanting to add um the section 3.5e which requires multif family to adhere to architectural standards. currently any multif family uh if you're not within an overlay you don't have to acquire you don't have to go by architectural standards and we would kind of like to be able to enforce those. So that's something that we're adding in that section as well. Those are the two changes or three changes that we're proposing to make and with that staff recommends approval of ZA03 2026 and able to answer any questions if you have them.

Any questions? No. Move to approve three. Is this open to the public? Is it open to the public? Legislated? Yes, it is. So, this is open to the public. Anybody have any questions or comments? Move to approve. Move to close public comments. There you go. Second. Okay. We have a motion, a second to close public comments. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. Okay. Discussion. Discussion. I'll move to approve uh ZA-1-2026 03.

Oh, no. Sorry. Za-3-2026. Excuse me. I'll second. Okay. We have a motion, a second to approve. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries.

Next one is Quas Judicial. As you guys are aware, this is a quasi judicial uh hearing. Unlike legislative matters, a quasi judicial hearing requires us to act in a manner similar to a court. You base your decision strictly on the facts and evidence presented, applying them to the established criteria in our local ordinances and state law. I'm bringing this to your guys' attention as I read through this just as a matter of for due process reasons and for court certification reasons if there's issues down the line that we need to be protected on. Have any council members engaged in any oral or written communication or had any site visits regarding this application outside of this public meeting?

Just this morning. Well, I I met with the property as I said on Monday. I met with the property owner and the property next to the three uh foundations. Okay. Uh does any council member have a financial or personal conflict of interest regarding this application? No. No.

All right. Uh first we'll hear from staff then uh and which which will then be followed by the applicant and then public comment. Speakers will be sworn in. the evidence, including photos or documents, must be submitted for the record, and then focus your comments on whether the application meets the specific legal criteria rather than the general opinions about the project. This helps ensure due process, the evidence, and the finality of this particular quasi judicial. That'll be the same protocol for all three of the quasi judicials that go through. uh CP-01-20226 an ordinance of the city council of Pontagora Florida amending the comprehensive plan future land use map to reflect the change in the current designation from low density residential PNS LDR to high density residential PNS HDR for 1.87 87 acres of land situated in the state of Florida, county of Charlotte, lying in section 13, township 41, range 22, and being further described and incorporated herein, providing for findings, providing for conflict, providing for severability, and providing an effective date. And this is the first reading. Uh staff, whenever you're ready. in.

I need to swear you in. Yeah. You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. I do. Anybody else? Is there anybody else beside is the applicant here? Yes. Are you going to be providing? Okay. Any public comment as well? Can you stand? I see couple hands back here. Can you stand to be sworn in? Anyone wishing to provide testimony for the private uh or or for the public comment. You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. For the record, everyone acknowledged they do.

All right. Hello. Carl Vin for the record. Again, we're talking about the Magdalina future land use change and reszone. We put these in the same presentation because they kind of go together in the conversation. Um, so in the next uh with the next uh item, we can just have that as a discussion or we can however you guys would like to move forward with that. So here's the location that we're talking about. This is the Magdalina properties. Uh this is the legal advertisement map that was sent out. So a little bit of history about the project. On February 25th, 2022, the building permits were issued for 2926, 2930, and 2938 Magdalina Drive for development of duplexes. The current general single family 3.5 district does not allow duplexes. Um, however, September 22nd, 2022, 7 months later, the error was discovered and a stop work order was placed on the site. Between December 29th, 2022 and August 26, 2023, there was communication between the city and Mr. Bill Morgan, the contractor of the properties in question. In March 2025, staff was directed to move forward with reszoning of the Magdalena properties, and that's kind of led us to the text amendment issue that we just went through. So, here are the properties zoomed in that we're looking at. Um, the properties in question are the ones from 9 all the way up to 15. Um, and the densities for those properties 9 all the way to 14 would go from one to two. Property number 15, which is a little bit larger, would allow three units. That is next to an existing multif family unit that has four plus units in it. Um, so it is compatible. Here is the proposing zone change that we are looking at. Um, we were talking about going all the way down Magdalina. However, there are two lots by the intersection of Magdalene and Aiesta that don't currently meet the minimum lot requirements. So in order to reszone the whole road, we would also have to make a text amendment to adjust the minimum lot requirements. So it would be

more work that would have to do. So what we did, we tried to minimize everything the uh minimize the zoning into the the multif family into the single family and just minimize the the need for text amendments. Um this is the future land use change. So, as you can see, there's already high density uh residential to the top, and we're just extending a finger down um down Magdalina to make that consistent. Here's some zoning comparisons. Um the GS single family versus GS multif family. The minimum crop yards both have 25 ft uh step back. Minimum rear yard for a single family is 25 ft. The minimum for a multif family is 15. Um I do have the heights here backwards. The single family is 35 ft and the multif family is 40 feet. Um so there is a 5 foot difference uh between the two zonings but that is the real major change. So with that staff recommends approval of CP0126 2026 the future land use and we would also recommend the res but we can get there. Any questions?

And the applicant is here if you have if you want to talk. Do you have any questions for pardon? if we have any questions for him. No, I don't. So, is there it Debbie Lux for the record, you know, you have the 25 foot set back to 15 foot. I guess at that point I can ask the applicant, you know, where his setbacks are on there. But, you know, again, to be consistent, especially since we might have some neighbors that are concerned, is there any way that this little area could have like the same setbacks as the single family? So any conditions that you would like to place on this moving forward has to be agreed to by the applicant. So if the applicant agrees to any of those uh moving forward that's between the council. So this would be a good question for that.

Yes. Okay. Janine pulled for the record. So the setbacks for single family is that because most of the single families in PGI are along a seaw wall. That's what I'm imagining that it has to be that far back in order to to not impede with the seaw wall. Um so um um I don't have an information for you. Okay. Um I I I didn't even look at the seaw wall relationship. Okay. Is there a seaw wall along this property? I didn't think there was. Okay. So it wouldn't be an issue anyway. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. Okay. And the applicant, do you applicant, you want to come up? Sure.

Please state your name for the record, sir.

Bill Morgan with Lewis McGuire Homes. I also had a uh just a quick four slide presentation. I don't know if I can bring that up or slides. Oops. You're dizzy. Well, obviously my uh PowerPoint didn't come through. It's not correct. But, uh, so I'll just walk you through what I had anyways. Um, I appreciate the opportunity, council, mayor, for this, uh, opportunity to talk to you about the project on Magdalina. As you know, this matter has been under dis discussion for some time, over four years now. And as a result, the homes on Magdalina Drive have remained partially constructed. My goal today is simply to show how approval allows homes to be completed and integrated in the neighborhood. I also want to acknowledge the neighbors who spoke in the planning commission meeting. I understand their concerns and uh really do respect that they care deeply about their neighborhood. My goal is um to simply present a practical path forward that allows these homes to be complete and become a part of the neighborhood. And um if I may walk you through a few brief slides that illustrate the neighborhood context. Um I'll do that. Although like I said my slides are none of them are right up there. We had trouble downloading it earlier. So onto the flash drive. So I

apologize. Um but if you do look at the map here, you can at least see the three black dots there. That's the that's the uh subject properties. And the surrounding area already contains a mix of residential uses from forplexes to triplexes, single family homes, and multifamily properties. No located near and around the corner. You've got million-doll homes located right next to forplexes. You've got a almost $2 million home that just sold right next to a forplex. And so what we're proposing is is duplexes on those lots. Approving this request simply allows those parcels to function in a way that is consistent with existing residential pattern the existing residential pattern already present in the neighborhood. Um I also want to note that uh this does not introduce a new development plan that's that goes all the way up and down Magdalina. You'll see all the same sort of things. Much of the disc the discussion is focused on the zoning classification called general multifamily or GM10 um it's important to note with um with the GM10 zoning and the size of our lots the maximum we can do on those lots that you're uh asked to imp or uh change is a duplex other than the lot that is a triple lot. Um approval allows us to uh currently complete the halted structure uh structures and bring them to a productive use. Um completing these homes improves the appearance of the street, improves partially constructed buildings and allows the properties to contribute positively to the neighborhood. These homes also provide attainable housing solutions for residents of Puna Gorta, housing options for working residents, young families,

and individuals who might who want to live in our ne in our community but may not be able to afford larger single family homes. So, we feel like we're doing a good thing. And and if any of you have been on Magdalina, you've seen the other duplexes that we built. And just to give you another idea here, let me see if I can go back to this one. It's not letting me go back. There you go. That's our duplexes that we build. We do different colors, different exteriors. Um, so we've got a few down there. If you drive Magdalina, you see they fit in nicely with the neighborhood. They don't take away from it. They're well constructed. Well constructed, excuse me. Um, lastly, the path forward. One issue raised during the planning commission was concern about uh ensuring that the homes would be ultimately completed. I can tell you for the last four years that's what we've been trying to do. However, the commission also recognized that uh zoning approvals cannot legally be conditioned on construction timelines. I think that was their big holdup in the planning was they could not condition it. And from a practical standpoint, approval today actually creates the path forward that allows these homes to be completed and integrated into the neighborhood. Um, so in in closing, uh, this request does not change Magdalina Drive. It simply allows these homes to be completed and become part of the neighborhood. This is a practical solution that allows us to finish quality homes, provide attainable housing, and bring a long-standing issue to a positive resolution for the community. And thank you so much for your time and consideration. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Any questions? That's all I was going to ask. I'd like to hear from the affected property owners that are also here. That's public comment. So, we're going to go here, please. So, my question is, um, your height on these, does it fit within the single family, like 35 ft?

Yeah, you could see that we're we are a, um, ranch style duplex that fits within the normal height of any single family home that's going to be built on that. We aren't doing two stories. We're not getting above the, you know, probably a 20 foot max there, if if that even that. I don't think that's 20 feet. But, uh, we we align, we conform, we look good, we we meld in with what's already there. So, if you were to look and I had other great pictures that I was about to show that show that, you know, you drive down the street and it just helps improve that street. There's a reason that those homes on that side of the street on Magdalina have not been built on. And um part of that is just the the zoning around it and the zoning behind it. Um Charlotte County has uh Charlotte Park back there and the zoning back there is also uh that's uh mobile park. So I I think there's a real reason that nothing's been done on a lot of those lots over time. And so this gives us an opportunity to help finish that off. I mean those lots have sat there for years and and at prices years ago that you could bought for dirt cheap. So,

so if if we um limited the height to 35 ft and the set back to 25, it it would be fine still with what you're building. Yeah, I'd have to check the setback and see what we are exactly, but I think we're somewhere around 2025 already. I mean, those foundations are in. So, that setback on the back is already in place. So, it's ever existing, then we could have that as the maximum. Um, I I do have to say that I've actually been inside of one of yours a few years ago and I actually thought it was a single family home and and you do a really nice job with the work that you've done. I mean, very very nice work.

Well, we appreciate it. It's been it's been quite the ordeal for a small builder in the city of Puna Gorda to have these out four years and the money that's been out, it's been a struggle to to keep going. But um I if we can reszone this, it it it gives us the ability to do something with those properties and pull that money out that we've had tied up for four years now and be able to put it to work and help the community. Do we have any other questions for him? No. Okay, then I guess we will open it to the public. Please, when you come up here, state your name. You have three minutes to talk. And that you've been sworn I'm sorry. And that they've been sworn. Right.

And that they've been sworn in. Yes. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Mary Sahar. We own a home on the other side of Magdalina. Um we're across from the partially built duplexes sat for four years. Um the conition of the property has certainly negatively impacted the value of our property without unfortunately lowering our property taxes. And they give the impression that we live in a depressed area where it doesn't pay to finish building structures that have already been started. Um, now some of my comments are going to be in response to things I heard other people comment about at the planning commission meeting. So I think those people are going to get up next. Um, the city staff is proposing that a large segment of the block um be reszoned to allow these buildings to be completed following some kind of rule about a larger section to be needed needs to be reszoned. But our position is that we would prefer that a variance of some kind be allowed to just allow the completion of these three buildings um rather than changing the zoning for the whole section. One of the buildings on the remaining lots that are under consideration to be reszoned already is a single family owned. We have no problem with some higher capacity units but not the entire block. Magdalene is a semi- busy street as such street parking is not possible. multiple multiple family multiple family homes will add difficulty with parking for visitors, workers, etc. and add further to the busyiness and congestion of the street. And I believe that most people would prefer in an area that had a single family home, a duplex, a single family home, a duplex, not duplex, duplex, duplex, duplex. Um, we heard comments that the builder should have known the property was not zone for what he was building, but there are already several duplexes and even higher cap even higher capacity buildings on Magdalena on both sides of the street. So, it's logical for anyone to believe it was not an only single family area and the city passed the plans and should have certainly had greater knowledge and been the higher authority. So, I don't I don't think blaming the builder holds any water. Um, several residents bordering these properties to the east, which is the backside of these lots,

were came to the planning committee meeting complaining about, "Oh, you're going to tear down the trees and there's animals living there." Well, um, it's not a nature preserve. whatever build whatever owners build on that lot under any zoning will certainly remove much of the vegetation. If the people behind them want to create a a haven for animals, they should plant some of the foliage on their property and the animals will stay um and rather than dictate what other people must do with their land. One of the empty lots is owned by another builder who doesn't want his lot changed from single family. Um but these owners said nothing about building a home to move into. Um, I believe they already I think they said they already live in BSI, which is I'm probably a much nicer lot. Expanding the zoning seems like it would increase this their property value, not hurt it anyway. And while this mass zoning, including these empty lots, um, is not our first choice either, if that's our only option, then I guess we would prefer that so that these buildings can get completed rather than just let these the eyesore sit there for another however many years. Thank you.

Thank you. Cindy O'Hara. I actually exit onto Magdalina every single day when I leave and I come home and I've been doing it. Cindy, hold on. I don't think you were sworn in initially. Where did you No. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. Thank you.

So, Cindy O'Hara. Anyway, um, so I'm on that up and down Magdalina every day over and over again for 29 years now. There's never been a problem getting out from Via Tripoli onto Magdalina, which is pretty much right in the middle of Magdalina. There's no problem ever getting out. There's not a traffic problem on that street. There's hardly any traffic on that street. And it's a good cutth through for people that want to get up to Kiesta from down off of Shreve and so forth. And they've done a fabulous job on building the houses on that side of the

the street. I I I have no complaints whatsoever. I think they should let you go forward and do what they have to do to get that work done. Good morning. My name is John Calico and I have been sworn my wife and I are the owners of the property right next door to these three duplexes which is 2920 uh Magdalena Drive. Uh in the city staff report they talk about things that respect private property rights and respect such rights and impacts upon them when preparing recommendations. Well, they went ahead and recommend recommended that this be approved. But at no time during any of this process were we notified that this this was going to take place. In fact, the only time we were notified is when we got the city official mailing that they were going to have these meetings. I consulted with the then director of zoning, Lisa Hannon, in 2023, asking her why the construction had stopped next to our lots. She explained what had happened and transpired. And one of the options for the builder was a land zoning change which also included our property which is right next door, lot number 12. I had informed her at that time that we would not be in favor of such a change. At the city council meeting in 2024, the then city attorney, Mr. Leaven, gave a lengthy opinion and stated that the property owner bears a responsibility to know his zoning. He also opined that a duplex could reduce the value of

surrounding properties which we agree with. Bill Morgan of Lewis Maguire Homes contacted us in early 2023 in which he told us about the improper permitting with the city. He had brought up the possibility of changing the zoning of his three properties with the addition of four other lots including ours. We explained that we purchased our lot in 2019 knowing it was zoned for a single family residences and were not in favor of changing it to multif family zoning. Mr. Morgan then offered to purchase our lot so we would be so he would be able to have it in his favor for the zoning change. He emailed a sales agreement which had added verbiage that was not discussed in the phone conversation, adding that we would help him get the zoning changed and the closing would only happen after the city approved that change. Days later, he called us and asked us why we did not sign the agreement. We then asked, "What incentive do you have closing on our lot once you have what you want simply because you're only putting down a small deposit?" That was the last we heard of Mr. Morgan. We contacted the county property appraisers office to inquire about valuation due to this zoning change and based on our conversation and comparison of similar size lots in the area the county valuation for our lot would go up by 79% increase over our property taxes. Can I continue? I mean this does

say we have to ask council if they allow you to continue. I I have probably 30 seconds. Can I continue? Just Just wait one second, sir. Is that a consensus to allow them to continue? Yes. Yes, sir.

Okay. Thank you so much. Please do not violate our rights as property owners to correct the mistakes of the city and the developer. In concluding, we are the property owners of 2920 Magdalena Drive, parcel number 412213258004, and are adamantly against this zoning change. Thank you. Well, good morning, Council Tim Richie.

I I remember this very well. And uh and thank you for reminding me that attorney Levan had made some comments on this because I want a lot of people to understand that some things that happened previously with city council has nothing to do with the city council except one council member. you know, to to when I drive by those unfinished buildings. And by the way, I stayed on this street when I had my surgery uh about five months ago. And I I stayed in a duplex that was on the water and it was an older one. And uh very nice neighborhood, really nice people in the morning, people walking their dogs. after hearing this homeowner say that his house is there. Okay, you know the three the units that have not been finished, yeah, they should be finished, but you know, I don't care what developer it is, PY, Lenar, anyone, I don't care. But you shouldn't be offering to buy somebody's house to make your company grow or make your bank account grow at their expense. I have personally and so have every one of you witnessed the serious demise and the quality of life in not only the city of Pontagora but Charlotte County but our entire state of Florida. This, you know, traffic is insane. Took me 3 hours Saturday to get to to Busushch Gardens. It took me almost 40 minutes to get out of the city of Pontagorta because of the big fair, the big party this weekend.

A moratorum and not issuing any building permits for like five years would be a great idea. You know why? Go on Zillow right now and see how many houses or condominiums are for sale in the city of Pontagorta and Charlotte County and then see how many are for rent. We don't need any more housing built here. None. And anybody that thinks we do need more housing built here, I want to go have lunch with you at Leroy. I will buy. So finish the the buildings on the street. But to reszone the whole street for this I we're tired of getting all these reszonings. We're tired of seeing agricultural land reszone into housing development. We're tired of the special request and the ask. What we want is a moratorum on no more building permits issued for five years. Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody else? Hi, my name is Les Lawrence. I have the privilege of living directly across the street from the Middle Foundation. So, I have the best view of all three of probably anybody and who had it for a while. Uh my issue my issues are that um I've been into the planning office. I went in and saw Lisa when she was still there and I've been in and seen Rachel a number of times. My issue is I've had somebody from the city over the phone, neither one of those ladies tell me that it was the developer's fault. He should have known better. I've had somebody from the city tell me, "Yeah, we made a mistake." I've had the guy somebody from the tax department tell me there's no proof that uh having those foundations across the street from your house affects your property value. Um it's been a long time.

Giddy up.

You know uh you know the early calls is it mowed? Like if it if the ground around it was mowed then it was okay. Uh, no. The ground's not it's not mowed at that time. You know, there's piles of cement in the front yards of all three of them. It's been added to as recently as a few weeks ago. We now have some new stuff on one of the piles along with some beer cans or cans. I haven't even gone over to see. This is something that the ward, whether you are here or not, should have recognized that a mistake was made. It was a mistake made by the city to issue the permits and they should have done something. Should have accepted responsibility. And all I've seen in the time is the city bobbing and weaving trying to avoid responsibility. And that's not the way to work. That's not the way to do it. Accept responsibility. If you make a mistake, accept responsibility. And you haven't. When I say you, I mean the board, not you individually. It uh I know the gentleman who lives directly next to me who's also across from one of them. You know, it I am not full-time. I haven't been full-time. He's full-time and there's he's not very happy either. So, I encourage you if you haven't driven by, drive by. You know, if I wanted to live across from duplexes, I would have bought a house across from duplexes. I bought the house that I bought when I bought it for a reason. Thanks.

Anybody else?

Good afternoon, Kathleen Newman. I've been sworn in. I live on Bayberry and Charlotte Park. It is not a mobile home park.

It is beautiful homes there. I am opposed to this resoning, flooding issues, um drainage issues. In addition, as a builder from 2022, he didn't know about the blueprints and all the specs that he was going to build on this. And to have it now be 2026 and bringing this issue up to the board. Miss Lux, yes, his buildings are probably nice, but there's a there's a protocol when you're a builder. He's done it before. And was he trying to deceive somebody and your board to try to get this passed just to start building and then all of a sudden, oh, it's not zoned correctly? I'm that's where I'm very confused. But I am opposed to this. And the last meeting in February, um, CP012026 was denied. Z-01-2026 was denied. And I'd like the board to deny this motions also. Thank you. Good morning. My name is Bonnie Shalo and I have been sworn in. Uh I am the wife of John. We own the property adjacent to his properties to these uh erroneously permitted duplexes uh that the builder is now asking for reszoning. I do want to state we do not approve of this zoning. Um my husband mentioned a few reasons why and I'll elaborate. We did receive no notification, no prior

official knowledge from the city. We did talk to the owner in October of 2023 and that's when we had maybe an inkling of an idea that something was going on. uh he had an opportunity maybe to try to to obtain our lot in his favor. Um but it did not go that way. But I I just do not feel it's right or fair that we are being forced to change our property to rectify someone else's error and or in this case it's two parties errors. We did our due diligence in 2019 when we purchased our lot. Um, we made sure that it's what we're looking for, single family. Uh, it is the owner or the buyer's responsibility to know the zoning of his property. I mean, I don't I don't understand how you overlook that. We've bought property before. We've always checked to see what is the zoning. Uh, I think if you want to own a lot designated or if we had wanted to buy a lot that is multif family, we could have went around the corner because those are zoned multif family. We purposely purchased this single family lot um in hopes that maybe someday we would be building on it and living there. Uh COVID came along and that just kind of put a crimp in things. Uh but anyway, it's also the tax implication. We looked into the tax implication on multif family zoning and it's assessed at a higher valuation. Uh we looked at county records. we called the county property appraiser and yes we would be assessed those lots those comparable lots would be assessed approximately 79% higher. So you're now forcing me to have my taxable valuation um higher in which we will be now paying more taxes on this. So with some we have done everything right by purchasing single family. Now you're wanting to

change it on us through no fault of our own. Just no fault of our own. I personally wouldn't feel comfortable building a single family home amongst amongst the multif family. I just feel like multif family limits your type of buyers for the property. It's probably more so going to be investors wanting to purchase rentals and could it become short-term rentals? Is now our lot or if we built a home would we be subjected to being surrounded with short-term rentals? Uh my question here is the question I have. I mean I feel very bad about the situation. It's a terrible situation to be in. But my question even is to both parties. Is it possible as a solution? Could the builder be able to go back redraw redesign a plan for a single family home to fit with the existing stage that construction is at is at. Um, this would maintain the single family zoning and decrease some of his cost to comply. Maybe uh decrease some of everyone's cost to comply, but just take what's there and and redesign it. Turn it to a single family home. Some people want two garages or turn it into a larger living space. I don't know. But anyway, thank you for your time. Thank you.

Does anybody else want to speak on this? May I make a comment? You have to close the public. I move to close public. Thank you. Second. We have a motion to close in a second. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. Okay. No, we researched just reszoning those particular properties. And Carl, can you address why that that's not possible? We were trying to just address the Morgan properties.

Yes, Carl Bench, for the record. So, legally, you can't just reszone properties without them touching contiguous properties or the same zoning. Otherwise, it's called spot zoning. Uh, and it can't be done. Um, we also looked into the variance because that was mentioned as well. Unfortunately, one of the qualifications for a variance is that you can't put yourself into that situation. That's so this wouldn't qualify to even apply for a variance for this type of issue. Um, reszoning and future land use is the only way to move forward. I just wanted to make that clear for the record. So, thank you. This basically affects three vacant lots and then one existing home. So okay,

actually I think you just answered that. So it would be the three properties that have the foundations on them, but then what it would affect how many others? Three other vacant lots and a lot that has an existing single family.

I'll continue on. if you don't mind. I Yeah, this has been going on a while and I'm at a loss because there, you know, it was the developer that made a mistake and the city made a mistake. Um whether or not, you know, you could go back in time, you know, at the time I was sitting on council and it was basically that uh government is not liable for making mistakes because what they said they're they were immune from that. And so unfortunately it put him in a very bad situation where it basically failed to him to to either come into compliance or to do something. And and here we are today. Um I I have a concern with the other owners of the properties that are going to be, you know, affected by this. And if that 79% taxes, if that's correct, I have a real problem with that. If I bought a property that was going to be zoned and now and my taxes would be X and that's going to be exponentially and I don't know whether that's true or not but if that is that's a big concern for me.

Unfortunately I I I know no I'm not asking you to. I'm just saying you know the these are the things that go through and you know I know there's a there's there's financial for having to tear up those foundations. Um I kind of feel like had they been torn up years ago though we'd already be moved forward with having properties built on there. It's probably cost Mr. Morgan a lot more money allowing them to sit too. So I'm just I'm at a loss at this point. I'm I'm wondering about the feasibility of redesigning the existing duplex foundations to accommodate single family.

Go ahead. Yeah, we looked at that at one time, you know, and the other thing is, you know, we've been working through this with the city for a long time. Initially, it was going to be I don't mean to rehash this or take your time because you guys have all heard it a million times, but you know, we initially went to the city building department and said, "Look, we understand this is GS3.5, but there is some language in the code that or ordinances that talks about um uh duplexes. So, we want to know, we want a clarification if whether or not, you know, we can build a duplex on there. And we were told by the building department, submit it and then we'll give it to zoning. And um, you know, they'll either approve it or they wouldn't. And we we submitted three different applications. It wasn't one one simple thing. They look they had to look at three different applications, check the zoning on three different applications, and then we were approved on that and move forward. So, yeah. um if we were to do it again, we wouldn't take the word of of building part building department official and and um you know rely on the the actual permit that we were given. You know, um we looked at we looked at redoing that and it's it's really just not feasible. I don't I have to even look, but I I it's been so long since we looked at that. I think we I don't know if we we were in the setback or I'd have to go back and look. I I think we might have been infringing the back setback for a single family residence versus multifamily. So, I think that was our main issue there. Plus, you have a 2700 we'd have almost a 2,800 foot single family home on a nonwater lot. and the ability to sell a 2700 square foot home on a nonwater lot, you know, the economics, um, we we'd

probably end up losing money just to to move that property.

I'd like to ask the attorney, um, what are the legal implications of allowing the properties to be completed and not do the zoning? But I think we heard from Carl that there would have to be a variance that comes through and that's not applicable. And I met with planning and urban design and zoning and everything else and I agree with that. Um it's it's a unique situation. The tax implications bring up a concern as well with that. I don't know if it's just those particular seven lots that would be affected with an increase or if it's the people across the street or right next door, but the legal implications regarding that, you know, I think they could be great and I would have concern with that. I I'm also a real estate broker and um deal a lot with with homes, but uh I I would assume that the assessor was um identifying that that would be a multifamily property and that um they might not have the homestead or exemption applied to it in his thinking if he wasn't explain clearly what was going on. But those single those lots over there, they will be able to build single family. they can claim that homestead exemption and there's no difference in taxing with the single family home and the homestead exemption on a on a zoned, you know, GM10 lot.

Okay. So he he may have been expressing the increase based on the uh multifamily built home or property and and not being take take advantage of the homestead exemption, but I've never seen it increase just because the zoning, you know, and we own several of these and we have we don't see that, you know, we're assessed at what we're assessed at and Um, you know, so there's nothing irregular about the tax taxes other than the homestead exemption and the valuation, whatever that is.

Janine Pulk, for the record, I would like to find out a little more information from the property appraiser and find out if that is indeed true. Um, and I agree with you that that typically the valuation is on the lot itself, not typically the zoning. Um so I would be interested in hearing from uh Paul Pulk on this. Um also you know the way it's kind of unusual because how these properties would be affecting others around them would basically be typically it's devaluation of a property that people are concerned about not overvaluation or more about higher valuation. So, this is kind of a weird situation where it would actually they're they're from what they've said that it would it would actually raise the value. I I would like to find out if that's

it. It's that is 100% a It is a very unique situation, but it occurs all along Magdalina. You have multifamily properties there now. And I'm sure if the single family owners along that street were being taxed at 79% more because of their single family being in that multifamily zone, we'd all have heard about it by now. Yeah. Can I please

I mean these these single family homes are are the multifamily homes are within a stones throw of this this development that's going a stones throw So, you know, I don't I don't understand how it would it would affect um you know, the valuation of the property. I just I just need to know that for myself that that's that's correct.

I would like Okay, sir. Do you want to come up and state your name, please? Thank you, John Challen. I have been sworn. Um, you can actually pull up the county website right now. Mr. Morgan owns several other um, GES 3.5 lots. Those value or I'm sorry, three GM-15 lots, those valuations on those lots. And oh, by the way, they're 80 foot, not 82 foot like we have is $74,800. The GS3.5 is valuation. And you can check all of those three lots that you're that you're wanting to change except for the bigger corner one. They are valued at 41,616. That is a different valuation of 79%. So you can get with Paul Pulk and and check the um but I mean the numbers are the numbers and they're not going to lie. The s the property appraiser office told us that the the valuation on the lot. So you're saying well what do you care? You know the the valuation of your lot is going to be more money. It's it's if I hold this thing a long time. Look at the taxes I've paid. Look at the taxes we paid since the since uh we bought it in 2019.

I mean, we don't want we don't want that. We don't want that. We bought it as a single family lot, and if the duplexes go right beside us, they're going to devalue that lot as a single family. No one in their right mind would want to build a single family lot there. My my question is is like whenever I have anything done on my piece, you know, when we were building and when something gets done, your value does go up. And I'm wondering if it was praised because they already had the permitting in place, so the value actually did go up and that's why you're seeing the difference because something started there. And it's only a question I don't know the answer to.

Fair enough. But if you look at the valuations of those of those uh all the multif family with that same designation, they're all the same. So you and the question I'd have and talking to the price, oh we you're only could we can only go up 10% on the valuation of your property. Well, and then I get to thinking, well, what happens if you buy a home and you permit for an addition? Your value goes up.

Your value goes up that same year as the permit's been final. So, would that happen to us? I mean, it's something that we don't want. And Mr. Morgan, you know, he has three other duplexes out there right now on Magdalena that have been stopped. They're in varying stages of construction. So, ask him about those. What's stopping those from being completed?

Just real quick on his valuations. Um, what we've got going on over there is is he's got a basis that he's working off. My zoning currently is the GS3.5. The reason mine's $71,000 is because I've been assessed on what I p purchase those properties at, and that's my base. Over time, his is going to go up. It doesn't matter if it's GM15, GM10, or GS3.5. His valuations are going to go up. And that's just what is being sold around there for those lots. That's what we paid for them. And that was the value of those particular lots. And I can't I can't control that. You can't control that. That's the appraiser. They're going to control that. And like I said, this is done all the way down the street. Um you know, we've got we got a $2 million home built next to a forplex. So it's not the way that street is, the way the city is, and um the way things have been built over there. People appreciate the area. They've been built well. It blends well. Um, and it is a little different. I mean, you know, it's different, but the valuation is going to be the same. I'm I'm being assessed at a GS3.5 right now.

I think you did bring up a a good point, sir, is when you purchased a property. So, 2019, the purchase price was a lot different than when you built it. And of course, that's how you get assessed is on what you paid for it. And I know people buying homes existing the next year after it goes, you know, before they get to homestead it, they see a huge increase in their property taxes. Sir, sir, you can't talk along. No, no, no. We have Melissa.

Um, you know, if we legally could do those three, I'd be more have an appetite to allow him to to finish them. Um, but I do not think that if the other property owners are against this, they should not be penalized because of Mr. Morgan's mistake. And we understand it was also city involvement, but it's a buyer beware situation. And so I am I I cannot in good faith allow for people's property be reszoned because of a mistake somebody else made. I just can't. So Melissa, you're saying that out of the seven lots here, we have one person who is saying it. And you're saying because of that one person with the seven lots is saying that.

I'm saying regardless if they're here or not, I don't believe that if I owned property and there was a mistake made by another individual that as a property owner that my rights should change because of mistake made by somebody else. I I understand what you're saying, but I haven't heard, you know, there's three lots here, but I haven't heard of the other people if they care or don't care. and you're basing it off of one out of the the seven lots.

I'm saying that I am not in favor of reszoning property owners whether they're aware of it or not. They may not be aware of it unfortunately or understand if it was a mistake made by an individual, which it was. I have a problem with that. And they may have been notified. They may not have been notified. They may understand. They may not care. You're right. They may not care. But at the end of the day, we're making a decision to reszone more properties because of a mistake that an individual made. And I I just I'm at odds with that. Jane, for the record, have we tried a special exception? I don't think we can.

Can you can you tell me why? because from what I understand it has to be for community and um if we say there's you know not enough affordable housing or could we Carl Ben for the record we did not look into special exceptions um that's not typically what they're used for um I would have to look more into that but that is not an avenue that we deemed would be appropriate

here comes the zoning official Rachel Barry is zoning official for the record. I haven't sworn just to add to that a duplex is not allowable special exception in a single family district and a variance cannot be used to allow something that is otherwise prohibited. Okay. Um so special exception and variance wouldn't be an option. So I mean we have to agree that of course the city is also at least 50% responsible for this and we can't ignore that Melissa. I agree with what you're saying but I also heard several people say let's just get it finished and make our street look pretty again. Um so I don't think we're we're hearing u only negatives on the on working with this. I think we're hearing kind of some people are neutral, some want to get it finished and and we do have a real dilemma here and it's not an easy answer

and there is the option of requiring him to take those foundations down and start over. I mean those I mean I'm just saying I'm not I'm just saying those are the options is reszone the all the properties have him re redesign it which doesn't sound like maybe it could be done you know into a single family however you do or require him to start over that's what we're faced with really that's true

so I just want to recap some of the what I've heard today is we've got somebody you know like I agree with you Janice I think it's it is partly the city's his fault as well that it it's a dual thing that's happened. Um, he's built the duplexes before. Like I said, I didn't even know they were duplexes until I walked into them. Um, it is affordable housing. This is something that we're doing. It's building on empty lots that have been empty for a very long time. Um, the empty lot next door, from what I understand, if I heard that correctly, is that they were planning on selling it, but it was COVID, so they didn't sell it, but they have the opportunity to sell it.

No, then I misheard that. That's why I'm That's why I'm trying to clarify. I just wasn't sure that I I heard that correctly. That's why I asked.

So, we have one property owner here who whose value may go up or may go down. We don't know that answer. Appraisal generally is based at 10% increase um on non-homesteaded properties. You know, if you're homesteaded, it definitely is a lot less. So, I had a vacant lot. I paid a lot more. And then when I built, I paid a lot more. So I understand, you know, he's purchased it. He had to pay a higher price because he paid a higher price for purchasing. So that's why you can't look at apples to oranges or apples to apples this way. It actually is an apples to orange. When you're looking at the property appraiser site, um you have to have it contiguous. So you do have three vacant lots that are affected by this. out of seven of them, three of them are the the the person who is here today looking at it. So, I'm just looking I'm just trying to throw out things that I see here.

Facts. Yeah.

Yeah. If we go the route of requiring the the foundations to be removed, do we have a shared responsibility in the cost of doing that? Because we have a shared responsibility in the reason for the the problem. There's a high degree of probability if the matter ended up in court, the city could be on the hook for some of it. Maybe not all, but potentially some.

Well, leadership is elected to make difficult decisions, and they're not there. We can't make everybody happy in this situation. So, I'm going to make a motion that we go ahead and allow these to be completed and which means doing the zoning uh change. So, that's my motion. Um just to clarify, we are on the future land use right now. Okay. So, it would be all right. So then so just be the reason I move to just be the future land use the reszoning because the next one got great this this is just first read.

Yeah and first read means we can hear more maybe the other three properties I mean one thing is your property will be more valuable if you are interested in selling it. I know that's not really your intention but anyway move to approve the resoning future land use. I'm sorry, Fred. Move to approve the future land use use change change. I'll second. Okay, we have a motion and a second to recommend approval of the future land use change. All in favor? Well, wait a minute. Just for discussion and that's a really good point. This is a first reading just for the public to know and then if there's more information that comes forward, you know, another bite of the apple as they say, right? Yeah, it's first reading.

Okay. All in favor? I I oppose. I Okay, it's a three to two. Do you need the names? Was it if if you could I'm sorry it's very difficult to hear you. If you could say it directly into the microphone that would be very helpful. Lockheart and Julian voted no. Denton P and Lux voted yes to move it to the second meeting.

Thank you. Okay, next is 3E. This is also quasi judicial, so you will need to be sworn in. Let me go ahead and read it first though. Z-01-2026 an ordinance of the city of Puggora, Florida. City of Pogora, Florida. Um, let me just start over here. An ordinance of the city of Panagorta, Florida. Amending the city of Pontagorta district map for seven parcels consisting of approximately 1.87 87 plus or minus acres identified by the Charlotte County Property Appraiser as parcels 412213258001 41221358002 412 213258003 41221325800421 213258005 412 2132508-006 and 412213 258007 and being more particularly described below from general single family 3.5 PNS GS-3.5 to general multifamily-10 PNS GM-10 providing for findings providing for conflict, providing for severability, and providing an effective date. This is going to be the first reading. And again, have any council members engaged in any oral or written communication or had any site visits regarding this application outside of this particular public hearing?

No. No. Does any council member have a financial or personal conflict of interest regarding this application? No. No. And again, we'll hear from staff and then the applicant, if the applicant so chooses, speakers must be sworn in and any evidence, photos or documents will be submitted for the record. So, there's anyone who wants to address this matter besides the applicant or staff. Can you stand to be sworn in, please? Seeing one, two, three. Folks, do you swear to tell the truth, whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Thank you. All right, Carl Bench, for the record, I would like to take my previous testimony with the future land use, move that forward with the reszone. Um, and here to answer any questions if you guys have any. Do you have any questions? No. Okay, then I guess we'll open it to the public. Please state your name when you come up here. Well, first let me ask this, Mr. Morgan, since you're the subject and you're the applicant, are you wishing to say anything further? Not unless there's any other questions for me. Any questions for him regarding this particular

uh quasi judicial? I do have a question. Do you have an estimated completion date? Because I know that has someone raised a concern about that. I I know you can't guarantee, but yeah, I mean, we're going to work within the city requirements and ordinances to start and get it done and finished in the time that's provided us. I don't know what that looks like yet because I don't know I haven't set a schedule to it just because it's been four years. I've been waiting to set a schedule to it. Sure. So, okay. Thank you,

John. have been sworn. Well, thank you for violating our rights as a property owner. Um, I think our next step is we're going to we're going to seek legal counsel to see what we can do u in this matter. And if if litigation comes against the city, then I hope you're proud to know that citizens that uh didn't have anything to do with this, you're you're costing them even more money than what we're going to be paying in taxes. Thank you. Anyone else? Move to close public hearing. I'll second. We have a motion, a second to close. All in favor? I

oppose. Motion carries. Discussion. Janine. Pull for the record. So, it's basically the same thing. I mean, you know, these properties we're changing are contiguous with multifamily anyway. Um, so it's it's basically the whole whole ball wax over again.

So, make a motion. Make a motion to approve 3E quasi judicial Z12026. First reading. Do you have a second? I'll second that. Okay, we have a motion, a second to approve 3E. All in favor? I I I oppose. The block opposes. Okay, so it's the same as last time. Thank you. Okay. Um, so I would, it was brought to my attention that the future land use after it is approved, there is a 30-day wait period that it has to be sent to the state just for review. Um, so just to kind of throw that out there, but that isn't until after the second, right?

So we need a second reading. Dr. Record, if I'm not mistaken, 3D and 3E will come back up on March 25th. Is that right? For a second reading. Thank you. That is correct. Okay.

Uh, moving on to 3F, Quasi Judicial V-8-2025. A request by Bowman Consulting Group, LTD, applicant and agent authorized by Michelle Miller as executive vice president of NNGP Corp. The registered general partner for NNIT LP property owner for a variance pursuant to chapter 26 section 16.10 10 Pagora code for multiple sections of chapter 26 pertaining to site and building design requirements to allow the construction of a drive-thru coffee shop on approximately 0.78 acre parcel located at 1225 Tamiami Trail, Pontagora, Florida 33950. The applicant is requesting a variance from Pontagorta Code Chapter 26 section 3.10 10 PNS G per PNS 8 and section 7.4 report subsections A1, A2 A, A2 D, A2 E, A2F, A4 A, E1, and E12?

Um, again, have any council members engaged any oral or written communication or had site visits regarding this application? No. No. Uh, does any council member have a financial or personal conflict of interest regarding this application? No. Is there besides staff and the possible applicant, are there anybody from the public who wishes to present any form of testimony today? If so, can you stand and to be sworn in? Do the three of you, do the four of you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do.

All right. Good morning. almost afternoon. Council Rachel Barry, zoning official for the record. Uh so as Mr. Luskovich read, this is a variance request for the property located at 1225 TMiami Trail. The original request or first here's a location map if you're not familiar with the location. It is directly next to the Fifth Third Bank that was recently built on uh 41. This is an old design. Uh the applicant is going to provide you with an updated design in just a moment. So the property is zoned highway commercial. Uh they are proposing a drive-through coffee establishment which is a use that is permitted with conditions. Everything about the proposal complies with those conditions. And so the variance request is simply uh for design features on the structure. The request originally included nine requests for deviations. Um there have been some changes made um a meet in the middle per se on some of them and so some of the requests have dropped off of the the variance. Uh so currently the request includes a deviation from section 3.10G8 that is the highway commercial district that requires a 70% frontage buildout. So the compromise there so to speak is they are adding um an additional covered seating area on one side. They are connecting the cooler structure with a solid roof and then adding decorative walls which altogether will exceed the 70% that's required. Section 7.4A1 requires similar massing and scale to surrounding properties. When you look at the individual structures included in the development, they don't necessarily have the same mass or um enclosed square footage, but if you look at it from an aerial view, they do cover the scale of

the development covers more land because of the covered uh drive drive-thru area in the back. The next three, section 7.4 4, A2A, A2D, and A2F are all related to being compatible with surrounding structures uh with the materials that are used at the board of zoning appeals. Um, as mentioned at the bottom of the slide, the applicant agent did agree to change out some of the siding on the exterior of the building. Uh, so it more so matches the masonry um design of surrounding buildings. 7.4A 4A requires a primary entrance for customer entrance uh facing the front street. uh the design of the building, the nature of the company in general, they don't necessarily have a dedicated public entrance into the building and so the door that is shown on the front of the building facing 41 uh would not be a primary customer public entrance. The last part of the request section 7.4E1 4E11 requires 50% of the front facade consists of doors or windows. Uh the original site plan did not meet that. At the board of zoning appeals meeting, uh the agent did agree to make some modifications and agreed to a minimum request of 35%. And to maximize as much as they could be on that if possible. uh the interior configuration of the building does not lend to adding actual windows and so we're talking about adding faux windows um to to meet that requirement based on the approval criteria listed in section 16.10b of the land development

regulations. All of those criteria were found to be true with the adjustments that were made at the February 23rd BCA meeting. As far as recommendations, uh, the board of zoning appeals heard the application on February 23rd and unanimous unanimously recommended approval with the following conditions. The applicant provide no less than 35% doors and windows along the front facade, faux or otherwise. No more than 16 ft between doors and windows along the front facade. And that the applicant utilize a nichiha sighting or similar looking style. There are a couple additional conditions of approval staff recommends just for clarity uh that are listed in the staff report and on this slide. So just to add for clarity if approved uh the applicant shall provide a continuous roof connecting the main buildings um that condition number four is to clarify that the totality of everything that's built is going to exceed the 70%. Uh number five, the proposed development is not required to maintain the similar massing or enclosed square footage um but is in encouraged to maintain the proposed scale of the development. And again, the door located on the front uh would not be a public or customer entrance. If you don't have any questions for me, the applicant and agent are here as well, and they do have a presentation for you.

Any questions for paper. It's not the full presentation. It's the

Yeah, they're stapled together. This is all sheets.

Sorry.

Okay. These are just Good morning everybody. My name is Elijah Basil and I have been sworn in. Staff, thank you for your time as well as for the public. I'd like to begin by introducing myself. My name is Elijah Basil. This is Drew Degan. We are the developers for the seven brew that we'll just discuss and the address is 12.5 10 m from the Gorda. So, a little bit about Seven Brew. We are a drive-thru specialty only. Um, in that regards, you know, we are making exceptions for seating like Rachel highlighted. Uh, the Force the first corporate location was opened in 2017. Since then, they had expanded to over 400 plus locations. Um, our client 7 crew owned and operated their first stand in 2023 and since then have opened up 65 plus locations. Um, majority of, so I'm sure everyone is familiar with Chick-fil-A. So that's the type of business that uh I guess the business operations that Seven Brew is. So drive through, you have your textures, they're on your iPads, they walk to your car, ask for your order, you give them your order, they punch it into their point of sale system, then it communicates with the internal operations of their team, they brew your coffee, you pull up, they walk your coffee out to you. And another thing they specialize in is custommade coffees and vibes that they give. Um majority of the workforce within a 7 brew is a younger generation. So for my eyes they're providing a good foundation uh not only for um the younger generation because they can see how you know a business operates and sort of have that customer and customer and stakeholder relationship. So 7 Brew is located within the grounds of West William Street and West

McKenzie. As you can see here is a site plan. So majority of the traffic will be um coming through. There's a sort of a alleyway. I'm just going to move my cursor so you guys can see what I'm referring to. So, this is the alleyway they will be entering and exiting. As you can see here, we have arrows and that indicates the flow of the traffic. So, they'll come in, hang a left or hang a right depending on which way they enter, either coming from the West Mackenzie or West Bolium. They drive through and then in a later slide you guys will see sort of uh where the canopy ends. This is like the main area of Seven Roo where the canopy is. You get your coffee from there and you go ahead and make your way out towards the exit of that alleyway. Again, you can either exit left or right. So, um, one thing I wanted to mention and also share with you guys is the landscaping. So, this is our landscaping plan. So, you see we have plenty of trees, plenty of plantings. Um, you know, going to look really beautiful. Now that you speak to living here,

Hi, Drew Degan. Um, I've been sworn in. Um, we just wanted to share this is the floor plan. Rachel alluded earlier that um, the see-through glazing would not make sense here due to the nature of the inside. Basically, everything in the building is is back of the house. So, you know, you'd be looking at an back of an espresso machine or something like that. So, we just wanted to show the floor plan to illustrate that. Feeling that the spandro glazing is more appropriate here. Um so this is the updated the old one. Go ahead and show share the old one. Um just to give some context.

Um so as Rachel mentioned, we originally were not meeting the the glazing requirement even from a spandre perspective. So we did just want to share this is what we originally showed. This is kind of a a wider version of both elevations. And then you go to the next slide which just be a closeup of the old version. And you can see those spandrel glazing is not provided. We have the glazing at the door and another window at that front corner, but nothing in the middle. Just for reference, this is the east elevation, which is what's facing Tammy Trail.

Thank you. Um, and then you'll also notice some of the facade there is is more of a metal siding. Um, and then what we look in here is going to have that Niha brick facade which was mentioned in those uh conditions of approval. And then we can see um if we go to the next slide, Elijah, we can go see a little closer um that span glazing right there in the middle. um allows us to get up to 35% glazing for the whole building. One of the other requirements is that there not be more than 16 feet between any edge of the building or or door and window and it's not marked on that but the longest dimension there is what Elijah's marking on his cursor and that's approximately 10 and 1/2 ft. So we do meet that requirement as well. If you'll go back Elijah and we can just see to the left of the main building at that lower elevation is the cooler. So the cooler is screened to match the building and then you can see the extended canopy on the right side of the building and that screen wall that Rachel um alluded to as well.

One thing I want to mention nia is just a type of uh it's a it's a like a vendor and then a type of finish. Just want to let you guys know that. So you're looking at the the west side which faces William which is this detail right here. Detail three. This is the southside detail. south exterior elevation which is in detail one. So for your bicyclist out there, Mr. Boyd, um we do have bicycle racks available. So So you're you're able to ride your bike up, speak with a texter, they're able to give you your coffee.

You want to scroll back, you can show this the bike is in the sight line. That bike rack is all the way around. Take your cursor right there by the transformer right there. Any questions? Where's the coffee? We need a sample. Why don't we get started? When do we get started?

So, Janine pulled for the record. So, this is just a prototype building that you guys because obviously I've seen the one that's over in Publix and it's great. Um, I'm sorry I had to make so many changes, but it it went from looking great to looking fantastic. I'm I'm really happy with it. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you all for your time. Thank you. So, this is open to the public. Does anybody in the public want to talk? No one closed. Move to close public hearing. Second. Okay.

We have a motion, a second to close public hearing. All in favor? I oppose? Motion carries. Discussion. I think it's um great to work with businesses. Thank you for working with our crew and uh also Rachel for working with this company. Appreciate seeing businesses come to our town and this is one way to do it is working together. So, thank you.

Sounds like it's going to bring in a younger population, too. But sounds great. Janine pulled two for the record and I just like to state I mean this is this is what development does. It's it's going back and forth. It's meeting in the middle. It's um you know it's about the aesthetics and the details and you guys did a fabulous job of coming back with with what is wanted. So very much appreciate that. I know it's not easy to change a prototype uh building but you did it great. Thank you. I'll move to approve uh V-8-2025. I'll second Janine B. Do you want that with the conditions of approval as listed with staff conditions?

I'll second that. Okay, we have a motion and a second on the floor. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. Thank you so much. Thank you. Brought this back. You guys can do it.

Moving on to ordinances and resolutions. 4A. No public hearing is required here. A resolution of the city council of the city of Pontagora, Florida. amending the budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1st, 2025 by providing for reappropriations and supplemental appropriations in the amounts identified in exhibit A and providing an effective date.

Kristen Simeone, finance director. Um, this particular reappropriation is specifically for the general fund. Um, we did review the reappropriation requests um and discuss with the departments and were able to determine um we were able to um eliminate 172,000 of those reappropriation requests. Um these reappropriations are items that were budgeted in fiscal year 25 that either did not get purchased, were not received or were not completed in the fiscal year. Um we did provide all the justifications that the divisions provided. Um so we'll take any questions you have at this time. Anybody have any questions? No.

I have um one of them I'm I'm going to ask is uh talking about uh reappropriating money for in-house lot mowing. And you know, when we're looking at that, if we're doing research on cost and feasibility, my question is, do we really want to look at this because then you're looking at hiring more employees, you know, retirement pension and things like that. So, I I don't know if that's something that we want to consider is hiring more in-house employees or just leaving it as external. So, um when we did the budget, we did um know that we would have those funds to carry over. So, when we determined the assessment rate, it did include that we did need those carryover funds. So, from what I'm hearing is like for maybe the upcoming budget, you're thinking about possibly changing from a vendor to in-house mowing of those.

I think this is what it's saying is the feas researching the cost and feasibility of bringing the lot mowing program inhouse is what it says. Oh, sorry. And I don't know if that's if that's really what we want to do.

That was page 87. that page. So that's under urban design. So let me check with um and Rachel. Thanks. Hello, Rachel Barry, zoning official for the record. So, yes, that is something that staff has discussed. Um, at the moment we pay a thirdparty contractor to mow the lots and then code compliance goes behind and inspects each one of those lots to make sure that they were mowed and then we have to do a statement of work and you so there's a lot of other administrative processes with it that we're just curious to see what the cost comparison would be with the total of everything we're doing with the vendor versus what it would cost initially to bring everything in house and then annual cost of what it would take to keep it in house. Um, so that's where the the interest came from.

Is is this just in on the empty lots or is That's correct. But we're having few and fewer empty lots and then we're considering hiring people full-time with benefits for which would replace the cost of what we're paying to the the vendor. But the vendors would have less and less lots as well. So we wouldn't be paying them as much either. eventually. Yes. And and I don't know what the comparison would be if we have it in in house if that would be lower than what we're paying the contractor, but it would be $150,000 to figure this out.

No, that would that would not take the total. No, that's just an amount being reappropriated. I'm sorry. that 150,000 was actually funds generated from the lot mowing assessment fee and then in the prior year using um we didn't have as much mowing especially after the hurricane so we had savings so those funds were set aside to be reappropriated so that we could keep the um lot mowing assessment for fiscal year 26 at the same rate so these funds are needed for the current year program okay yeah because the way it it stays

because for the assessment Yeah. And I I apologize for that. Um but for the assessment, we can only use these funds for that lot mowing program because we are receiving those assessment fees, right? Because it's actually the people who have empty lots just like our seaw walls are the ones who are actually paying that,

right? And at some point we want to determine, hey, do we not want to do this assessment district anymore? you know, as we have fewer and fewer and then have the homeowners be responsible for or not the homeowners, the lot owners, right? Because there's no homes on them, um, be responsible for keeping up that maintenance and then code would just have to site them if if they weren't keeping up. So there there's there are several issues going on, you know, and need to be looked at um, and determine at what point do we feel that you have not enough lots to continue with the district. Right. But then you're hiring people to do it in the meantime and then what happens when we don't have lots? You know, I guess I'm just looking at it a bunch of different

So, we'll review that during our upcoming budget. Do a costbenefit analysis. So far, there there is no definite plan to bring this in house yet. And so then, okay, that answers that. Thank you. That makes sense. Um my other question was like and I I think that and so just for the record so that everybody else can hear it. I I did ask about uh the $200,000 uh with the comprehensive plan, but she stated that it Go ahead.

Yeah, we certainly may have additional costs. I um heard from some council members that there might be an interest in as we work through our land development regulations bringing in a specialized attorney that work has won Bird Harris claims and so these these funds could be used within that process. We we do know that there are going to be costs to the land development regulations and that's why we're asking for the reappropriation. And and another point on that particular line item was the division reduced their budget last year by the 150,000 that they would have for planning purposes for outside vendors again using the funds that were available from that they weren't spending in fiscal year 25.

Great. Thank you for the clarification. Y I don't have any more questions. Do you have a motion? Motion to approve 4 A. Second. So we have a motion, a second to approve 4 A. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. Thank you.

Okay. Does anybody want to pull anything on the consent agenda? If not, I'll move to approve consent agenda. Second. Okay, we have a motion, a second to approve. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. Regular agenda. Thanks so much for hanging in there with us. And this is on the board of Historic Mural Society approval.

Good morning. Danielle Burhell, Urban Design. I'm just here to introduce Kelly Gaylord. She is the president of the Pontagorta Historic Mural Society and she'll be giving her presentation. Okay. Uh good afternoon. Kelly Gay Lord, president of the Mural Society. Uh just a little background on the Mural Society. We've been around since 1995. Our mission is to preserve the history of our local area through art and education. We currently have 31 murals. I'll say that with a qualification that one will probably be down to 30 by the end of the week. Um and uh we are working in conjunction with other history organizations to continue to educate, to present our history, and to be a place for folks to come and see and visit us and and really appreciate what we have here. And uh this particular donation was approved by the historic preservation uh advisory board on February 26th. And what is the donation? The donation is a informative plaque about the history of the Baker Academy. Uh the school was established back in 1903 and um Benjamin Baker was recruited to come here and be the first teacher and eventually the principal of the school. Uh it was a that uh renamed kind of Baker Academy through the years in honor of him and a new full full a new four room school was built on Mary Street which is where we proposed the the market to be located in 1922 and that school was there for 37 years um and until a fi a new one was finally built on Charlotte's Avenue in 1958 and you can read all this stuff here um and with the segregation ation that came in 1963 and in the following years the school building was eventually changed

converted to a preschool child development center in ' 66. So this is what the picture of what the marker will look like. I know you can't read the text too small. Um but it's it has the photos that we do have. We have very very few photos. Um and the proposed location is the Mary Street uh where the Baker Baker Academy was for 37 years. And that's what all those little swishes point to, that little triangle there in the back. Talk a little bit about what's in the mural. So, it highlights um a number of the photos that we have. Um it does highlight Joshua uh Benjamin Joshua Baker, who was the principal of the school. It does have the first class, that's the only class photo that we have from way back in the day, and several other photos of the building. They're the only photos we do have of that particular building, as well as the inside of one of the classrooms. and really tells the story of the school from 1903 to 1966. There's always a QR code that we put on our murals as well as our informative plaques that allows folks to go and read additional information if they see fit to do so, if they want to learn some more. Okay, so the formative markers look like this or plaques. Um they're at an angle, a 45 degree angle. They provide photos and text to the viewer. And uh we're using the same manufacturer that we did for the fertilizer plant marker that's in uh Gilpress Park. The proposed location is um right inside the gate to the tennis courts. The actual building used to be right there where the tennis court and playground are today. And um there is no room to put it outside the fence. The fence runs right along the sidewalk. So, it will be inside um but will be accessible for folks walking along the sidewalk there and be able to to read it and enjoy.

The plaque is being uh funded by the mural society, also the Charlotte County Historical Society and the Shively Charitable Foundation. As I mentioned, we're using the same manufacturer that we did with the fertilizer plant marker and that's Monarch Direct. They do an excellent job and uh the research was done by Scott Shiveley who's our Blanchard House historian and myself along with lots of interviews um people that have that attended the school and newspaper. We we've got a lot of information on this now. Not a lot of photos, unfortunately. Uh the overall design, text, and photos was reviewed by the community leaders including Reverend Ellison Haddock and uh who actually attended the academy and uh uh Miss McCarthy and Miss Cwood as well and a number of other folks that I didn't mention. Um we will provide ongoing maintenance. So eventually these plaques do fade and the way you maintain them is you print another version of the of the vinyl and apply it. So we will take on that and uh we're seeking your approval. Any questions?

Any questions? Move to approve 6A. A second. We have a motion and a second for approval. All in favor?

Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay, next is the Florida League of Cities Federal Action Strike Team Lion. Just going to get the flyer pulled up here for reference. Where did the March 11th agenda go on the meetings page? That's what they do.

Okay. Well, um I have it.

Yeah. On they don't have anything about it on the website. Well, sorry that was a lot of muttering to myself. I was just to pull pull up the flyer um that Florida League of Cities sent for this event um in case you all had question. I know it was included as a part of the agenda materials, but I was just trying to pull it up so we could reference it together if needed. But basically um the clerk's office is asking for uh council's direction regarding um this event and the city uh city council's participation. A couple of things that I wanted to note. Um, the Florida League of Cities has requested that in order to comply with Sunshine laws that only one council member or elected official um be designated to go. That is a recommendation, a suggestion as far as I'm aware, but something that they have um put in their literature about this event as a request from their office. And then something I wanted to draw council's attention to from the council travel policy. Um, travel policy requires a majority vote of council to approve any outofstate travel prior to the city incurring charges um or incurring expenses, excuse me, for that. So, um we did do a presentation on current expenditures in the council's travel and registration accounts um at the last January council meeting. Um the numbers are basically the same but I did want to provide updated numbers because I think at that point we had not fully incorporated the finalized costs from the Florida League of Cities um the legislative action days trip. So I just wanted to give you all the updated numbers after that. Um so in the council's registration account um it's budgeted uh for fiscal year 26 of

$6,550. expenditures to date are $1,986.36. So there is a remaining um allowance, I guess I'll call it, in that fund of $4,56364. And that registration account is pays for things like the registration fees, um uh seminar fees, anything that's like a um a a ticket that you have to have to get into the event. Whereas the other account, the travel expenses account, covers um the things that council are eligible to be reimbursed for for related travel expenses, things like mileage. That's also what the city uses to pay like for hotel accommodations and things like that out of that account. Um for fiscal year 26, the budget for the for the travel expenses account is $10,000 and council um when they approved the budget had made had had a consensus to distribute that as an equal allotment per council member of $2,000 a piece. So the total expenditures to date in that um budget are $5,41.35. Um the way that that breaks out, uh like we reviewed at the end of January, um Council Member Pulk is at about $1,000. Um Council Member Julian is at about $2,500. Uh Mayor Lux is about $650. Um nothing for Council Member Denton and Council Member Lockhart about $1,100. So, the remaining total um balance there or the remaining allowance um for the 4,000 travel expenses account is $4,59865. Um and I do want to note, I know we recently had the Q1 report from the finance department that we're about 25% of the way through the fiscal year. Um

currently the expenditures in the council travel expense account um being a quarter of the way through the year we have expended about 54% of that budget. So obviously um we want to get some direction from council specifically regarding the fast flyin event and then also find out um if council would like to have a discussion about um increasing or reortioning any expenses to that travel fund. So I'll open it up for council discussion. Um, Janine P, for the record, um, I I just think it's too expensive to go. I think it's kind of silly that we're even talking about this. 349 per night for a single room. I've never paid that in my life, to be honest, and I certainly don't want to ask tax taxpayers to pay that kind of amount amount of money. Um, also, I I know the Florida League of Cities is wonderful. Uh, their main goal is solving local problems with local solutions, and cities do not need to seek permission from another level of government. So why are we going to Washington DC? We have a hard enough time getting legislators to be on our side and that's what that's what courtesy of the taxpayers, you know, they pay for a really good lobbyist up there. So this traveling back and forth in my mind is just it we should just keep our our business here in town and and keep it local. Just my two cents. Thank you. Yeah, as I said on Monday, as the council representative to the League of Cities, I am volunteering to go on this trip and I will pay for it myself. I think if Greg wants to go, that's fine. But I don't think we should be allotting our our diminishing quickly diminishing travel budget for uh yet another trip. And I'm not really even

sure what the purpose is of the trip. They don't even define the purpose. And I was that one of the things I was trying to pull up on the flyer, but it it said it gives a general blurb about um you know meeting with the the Florida some kind of you know state delegation or whoever represents. Oh, thank you. Kristen has a copy of it. Let's see here. So, um, the purpose of the event is for attendees to meet with members of Florida's congressional delegation to discuss key federal issues that affect municipalities. So, that's what it says from the just from the event flyer from Florida League of Cities. Thank you.

Byron Donald's will be in town in a few weeks. I'm I'll be talking to him there. So, I don't feel like we need to go to Washington DC or Stewie. He's always available. I

I mean I I've been part of flyins with my home care business and it's it's a 10,000 foot elevation. You go up there, you're with a bunch of people and you know usually I'm actually surprised they only want one because usually it's strength and numbers kind of thing. Um League of Cities is great, but just like even in Tallahassee, I've fig I know we got more done meeting with our lobbyist and and having those individual meetings than you know like meeting as the group of League of Cities. So I don't really have an opinion. I mean, if if a council person wants to go and pay on their own, I have no problem with that.

So, I um I guess I'm the last one to talk about that. Um I think if you go up there, Greg, and pay on your own, you'd be going up there as Greg Julian, not as council member. Are we okay with him going up there as a council member? He's paying council members. Fine. So, that's what I'm just asking to verify that going as a council member and representative of the city. So, I know I I said I wanted to go too, but Greg, you're graciously um saying that you'll pay for everything else. You know, that you're paying for the whole thing, and I agree. Maybe this is not a good time for us to spend city budget. So, thank you for wanting to pay your own way and go and and I'll say yes to that that I won't go then. Sounds good.

Okay. Then we'll make sure to provide um you, Miss uh Council Member Julian, with the information to make the travel arrangements. And if you have any questions, um, feel free to reach out to our office. I do want to confirm, I'm sorry, since I have Kristen here. So, if, um, a council member is covering their own expenses for an event, do we still need to submit a travel report for them? Is it, if the city's not covering any expenses, then we don't have to submit that? Okay. Not even for insurance purposes.

Oh, okay. I'll put one in just for insurance purposes because I know finance has has noted before that and HR that in order to make sure that you are, you know, if you're going on behalf of the city that our insurance covers that that we have to have um the travel report as a backup for that even if the city isn't paying any funds. So, we'll still have that paperwork submitted for that purpose. Okay. Thank you very much, council. Great. Is it okay if we take like another really quick break? Yep. He wants it. Where's Where's your snacks?

Yeah. Next on the agenda is public safety radio project. Yeah, I do have

I don't know if anybody needs to see this. Good afternoon everybody. Chief Pam Smith, Panagora Police Department. Um I also have Captain Dylan Rens and our administrative services uh supervisor Eric Burus here in case we have any kind of technical questions, but um and then Chief Gibbs is here as well to talk about this. Uh this issue was brought up a couple meetings ago in reference to the sheriff's office is now going to be encrypting their radios. They've already started implementing that project. Um and as a result, not only are they encrypting, but a lot of the surrounding jurisdictions are encrypting their radios. It reduces interoperability for us. So we will not be able to hear their radio, hear their transmissions, get on their radio channel if we are not encrypted as well. Um, and I I sent a pretty long proposal to you guys explaining a lot of the issues with that. Obviously, there's a critical incident or something where we need to be on a channel with them quickly, there will be a lot of delay. Um, so one of the things we did initially is ask uh city attorney Leuskovich to determine can 1% sales tax funds be used to purchase new radios so that we can all be on share our channels like like normal. Um, and the answer is yes, as long as it can the equipment will last at least five years. And

that's correct.

So um Just trying to make sure I follow everything here. I put together a couple different proposals and one of the things that I would like to say to you guys is that purchasing all new radios is probably the most while I know it's going to be a huge cost up front initially. Um, however, I think in the long run it would be the better option. We are in a phase now where we were going to start purchasing new radios. We're replacing them on a scheduled basis. So, we were already going to be starting to purchase new radios. If we just do it all now, we don't have to go through that phased approach. And it we know these radios that we currently have are at least 10 years old. Some of them are 15 years old. So, we we know that if you purchase them brand new, they're going to last that long. If we there's an option in there to purchase refurbished radios. when we're getting those where we could be getting the same radios we have that have just been refurbished and upgraded to be able to get encryption but they might not have a lifespan beyond they only give you a 90-day warranty initially you can purchase a 5year warranty and then we just don't know if they're going to

if they're going to fail after that. So um that's why we gave you a couple different options. There's also um an issue that we discovered with the fire department's ALS certification and I don't want to I want to cite the right thing here. So the 2023 Florida Medical Services Emergency Communications Plan and I cited that in this proposal if you need to go to that website says that they have to replace their portable radio. So the ones we carry in our hands every six years. They have to replace their mobile radios every eight years. So that's the radios that are in their apparatus. Um and I think the base radios that are at their stations are 10 10 years. And unless they have an approved maintenance plan. So if you're talking about purchasing refurbished radios for them, it might be difficult to get a good maintenance plan because we know obviously the warranty only lasts for 5 years. So, um, that is was a consideration when we put together these options. And obviously option one is the one where we purchase everything new. We do have a couple portables that are getting technical. Um, we have A radios and BN radios. So, the BN ones can be upgraded to be encrypted. And so, the police department has five of those. The fire department has quite a few more. However, then you're getting back into that issue with the certifications and so we recommend just upgrading five of their BN radios so they can just use use them as spares. But if we do the purchase of all new radios and upgrading some of those um a couple of our mobiles and portables, it comes to approximately 1,230,000 and some change. Um so that was option one. Option two was kind of a combination where we because there is a

an agency that the sheriff's office you or an agency a communications company that the sheriff's office use that we did reach out to them and get some prices. So you could purchase some of these refurbished uh whether it's the mobile that are in the cars or portables. Um, so we we put a price together where we would purchase refurbished mobiles because portables are the ones that are the guys are they're out in the weather, they're possibly being dropped here and there. Um, our officers who may get into um situations where they're unfortunately fighting somebody, the mobile go fly, the portables go flying off um things like that. So we did a combination where you'd purchase brand new portables. however, purchase refurbished mo mobiles. Um, there there was an issue that the the fire chief mentioned about that if we did that because he still has an issue with the ALS if we we do that. So, the price there is a million and 32,000, but if we we want to keep purchasing brand new stuff for the fire department, it takes it up to about a million80,000. So, um just keep that in mind if if if you're looking at these options. And then the third option is the one that we like the least um where you purchase all refurbished things and upgrade some of those portables and that takes it down to the 56,000. But like I said, you're getting back into that situation where what do we do in five years if those things start to fail. So, um didn't know if you just had specific questions for me. So, I'd rather just open it up and you you guys can ask any of us whatever questions you might have or your thoughts about it. I have a question for what else does. Um, this wasn't my thought, but it seems like it might be a feasible one, and you might tell me I'm absolutely wrong, but with the option one cost breakdown, you have upgrading of portables and and

mobile units. Would it be possible right now to say yes, let's go ahead and upgrade the portables and mobiles that we can be encrypted and then still that way we've got something here to be able to listen to everybody else that's going on. See if we can look at finding a grant because I think the biggest concern is if we say we're going to fund this, we can't look for other grants. And I know we had one that was turned down, but I don't know if we've looked for other grants just to get us started to make sure that we're encrypted with everybody. We have to trigger the warning on this post for phobia. What? Hello.

Um, well, if you're starting to mix and match some of them, once you encrypt those channels on there, they can't even speak to each other. So that again you're encrypting some of your radios but not or Yeah, I was looking at the upgrades of the portables because we're going to have to encrypt the the consoles in the um communication center first and then be able to encrypt our radios to talk so they all talk to each other. So I think it would create a an internal issue at that point in time, but it's doable.

Um well, we're not not going to be listening to each other. We're only going to we would only want to encrypt one or have one where we have the sheriff's department put their channels on that encrypted radio ch radio that we purchase and just listen to that. But we could not have some of ours encrypted listening to the sheriff's channels and some not. If that makes sense because you then our officers aren't talking to each other because we wouldn't be able to encrypt our main channels. Dad, I thought I had a good idea. It I like it. Yeah, I like your own but uh yeah, I don't know if there's any Did you want to add anything to I can The answer to that is and make sure you say your name.

Yeah, Captain Ren Per Police Department. Um the issue is an encrypted radio cannot speak to an unencrypted radio. Period. So if we took any of our radios and encrypted them, they could communicate with the sheriff's office, but then they couldn't communicate with any of our other radios. So now we not just have a interoperability issue with the sheriff's office, we would have an interoperability issue internally. Uh so it either has to be um everything is encrypted and we are able to communicate with the sheriff's office or nothing is encrypted and we are not able to communicate with the sheriff's office but can communicate with each other. Awesome.

Um thank you uh attorney for figuring out that we can use 1% sales tax and I know the caveat with that is the fiveyear uh that it it you know is for five years. I trust what the chiefs have brought to us as far as what your needs are for public safety, whether it be medical, criminal, you know, what's going on with the county. Nobody wants to spend this amount of money. But I think the only way that we're going to be able to get longwithstanding up new equipment that's going to last longer than trying to, you know, see if we can kind of limp this along is option one cost breakdown. we can use the money for 1% sales tax and I'm I'm okay with that.

Janine Pulk, for the record, I I think that because we've already been threatened by our our 911 call system being taken away and this was one of the issues that you know, the sheriff's department will be encrypted and you won't be and you know, they really use that um to take away our 911 call system. And I'm kind of agree with with Councilwoman Lockhart that, you know, it's it's 200,000 between A and B. And I kind of was going back and forth on option one and option two. Um, but 200,000 and you're pretty much guaranteed. I mean, are these going to be under some kind of a like if they're broken, can they be fixed and all that stuff?

Yes, that's correct. It's a the it comes with a 5year warranty off the bat. We don't pay extra for that. And then um it's a maintenance plan that we work out with Motorola. question. Yes. If the fire department gives you their portables that they can't upgrade due to the regulations on ALS or whatever, can they give them to you? Then you have 10 that you can upgrade and we save $30,000. Yeah, we could probably work something like that out. That would be at least one way to save a little bit of money. They're going to need those five though. So, we're going to purchase. So, they just get the new ones you get. So, it's kind of a wash. Yeah. They'd be a wash. Yeah, because they're going to still need five. Those five radios. We were just upgrading.

But it looks the the upgrades are 1,000. The new ones are 6,900. Yes. But if you're saying we're going to trade them five for five, we're going to give them five brand new radios. Yeah. So, it's going to cost another five. Same. If that makes sense. But then you get five that you can upgrade. You can reduce your new ones by five. Yes. But they got to purchase the five. Yeah. So, it's the same. So, that's me getting all new radios and us not. But that makes sense.

I I deb I don't doubt that this is extremely important. The thing that we're going to have to look at when we come to the 1% sales tax is what are we going to give up a little bit to make sure that we have enough money to be able to take this? One of the concerns is, you know, this is something we're going to need to do sooner than later. And what what happens? Sorry. Geez, Louise, I thought that was in front of me. Uh what happens if we don't get the 1% sales tax? So, this is actually money that's already in the 1% sales tax that we've been It's for the public safety expansion project. So, it's already we already have that funding. So, so it's not going to take away from It's not going to take away anything from the new 1%. Yes. That makes it so much easier.

Correct, Kristen? Oh, she's coming off. I might be wrong. I was trying to verify that ahead of time.

Chris and Simeon. So, this is money that's in the current 1% sales tax so far, but it was again it was for the whole public safety project. So, obviously, if we use 1.2 million for this, that kind of reduces that. We do have some of the funds that eventually council will look at once the city hall is done. So maybe some of those funds could go back to the public safety building since you have savings in that area. Um so in essence, yes, you know, and then I know when you do come the um the 1% sales tax is coming up a little bit later, it's still scored pretty highly for that public safety, right? So Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. I mean I'm going to move to approve 6E and with option one discussion. No. No. You still want to discuss? No. I I think this is is uh the best possible use of that 1% sales tax. It's the most important issue. Yes. So do you want to make a second? Second. We have a motion and a second to approve. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you guys very much. Now how long before we we can we're going to work today. Hey, I'm going back and start working. Okay. And how about training? Is there going to be any training time?

There shouldn't be any need to have any training. We what we will have to do is get it all programmed with the sheriff's department's keys and we can actually even look to add some other radio channels from other jurisdictions that are close by now that we'll all be on the same and our school resource officers. They also have obviously. Okay, great. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, that's important. Chief, you're up next. So, we are asking for tons of money today. Yeah, we are. I apologize. What is it with our safety people?

Not not certain that I want to go second. Um, so we brought to you um here recently that you know we have some aging equipment. We have some needs uh future needs and and things looking out in the future as far as our apparatus are concerned. Um currently we have two reserve apparatus which are ones that we use anytime we have a a unit go down uh anytime we're doing PMS uh any breakage and things like that. And we kind of looked at what we've been doing over the past few years. I think um I think I have it in here. Um truck 52, which is our reserve ladder truck, uh we had to put it in operation for 14 days last um this last year. And engine 53 went in service uh for 16 days while other apparatus were were out of service. Um and with that, we had truck 52 just received some major repairs because it's been down for the last several months. uh it needed a new turbo and a few things because it's getting older, things like that that we start have to look at. Do we have um you know equipment that's going to be able to put in place and actually function uh to prot protect our city. So um we spent about $15,000 uh last month uh just repairing 52. So, and the ages of those apparatus, um, I think, uh, engine 53 is a 2003 model, so it's 23 years old. Um, ladder 52 is a 2004 model, uh, making it 22 years old. and looking at, you know, outside of our department, you know, NFPA makes these recommendations that, you know, frontline engines and apparatus should be, you're starting to look to see if they're that they're going to last anywhere from 10 to 15 years, depending

on how much um your department runs. So, you know, what what calls are you going on to, how often are you going out? Um we're definitely not um the slowest department, you know, in the country. And actually, some would say that we run uh quite a few calls. We're running about 5,000 calls a year out of three stations. So, kind of divide those up. Our ladder truck currently is running about 50% of those. And the other two engines are are about 12 1,200 to,250 calls a year out of those other stations. So, what we're proposing to do is we'd like to purchase another engine. Um uh our current engine 3 is a 2017. Um so it's it's not it's not reached its end of life but we would like to end up moving that uh to a reserve apparatus that we can actually rely on depend on on on a more reliable uh situation. So um we reached out and we know that these things are costly. Um uh we we asked our our suppliers and said hey what what what do we need to budget for? What are we looking at as far as total cost? And we're looking at an apparatus that's going to be basically very similar. There might be a few changes. Instead of rollup doors, we might go with some uh hard doors that open up that give us additional space to carry stuff. Uh but there was no real cost change or upgrade cost for that. Um and just the the nature of the business, these uh these engines are running just over a million dollars. So, uh, I put in here the two different, um, prices for the same apparatus. Uh, there's a prepayment discount. Uh, it would be 1,ion5,000. And if we decide to not do the prepayment, um, it's an increase of $31,000. So, $31,000 savings if you

prepay it upfront. Now, I Okay. And um I I would say that by ordering it, you know, now within the next few months, it's they gave me a 30month time frame on on the buildout for these. Um they're just so far behind. They're they're being purchased, you know, around the country. So we're looking at two to two and a half years uh before we'll actually see this apparatus. Um, and that's why we come to you today because, you know, as we go forward the next year or two, uh, we're going to continue to see more and more downtime on our current fleet. So,

um, Chris and Simeone, um, so first talking about the two options, the prepayment or, um, the discount, I wouldn't recommend that. Our current interest rate on our savings account or on our accounts are at least three and a half%. Obviously, we don't know what interest rates will do over the next 30 months. But um within one year that dis that discount would have already um we would have already covered that discount. We would have earned at least that amount of money in one year. So I would say we would we wouldn't do the prepayment. We would just pay the um final amount in 30 months when when it's delivered. Okay.

Okay. Um, and then do you want to talk about budget for it? Okay. While I'm here,

so we would probably have to appropriate the funds. We could do it out of the general fund from reserves because we did have extra reserves that were being used through several years. And then um obviously if it's put on the 1% sales tax and it goes to referendum or you know for voter approval if it's approved what we could do then is just change that purchase order from the general fund over the 1% sales tax. So we would just update the um the appropriation at that time and and obviously there's no guarantee at this point in time. So we would have to find the funds anyway. And and again, even though you're appropriating it now, it wouldn't be spent until the 30 months when it's actually completed cash flow wise.

Sounds good.

Melissa, um uh couple questions that it it relates to this, but a little bit of a side step. I know we've talked before about I would really like to see chase vehicles um being used instead of always bringing the truck out when it's just a medical call, right? And I think it would really save on some wear and tear on the truck. Citizen actually asked me a question. I I was curious. So let's say and I know I think you're working towards that, but I think your other concern was, okay, if we have a chase and they're out on a medical call, that's only going to leave, let's say, two guys or gals that are in the the um you know what if there's a fire, right? So now that truck has to go out and you don't have a full truck. The question that was asked to me is, let's say that they're on a medical call, two people, then the fire truck needs to roll out. Is it can that truck roll out and then just knowing that those other two are going to meet up with them at that next scene or does it have to be because I know that the budgetary problem with that is you're like, well, we can have a chase, but we're going to have to hire more firefighters to make sure, you know, and that was just a question. So that that was a consideration for us um at one time. Um and I guess the long and the short short of it is you don't know exactly where uh those personnel are going to be, how long they're going to be. Uh, so I mean if you have, you know, an engine that rolls up and you're down, you got one guy or two guys on that truck and you're standing there and you're looking at, you know, some life safety or, you know, building's on fire, there's people inside and those guys can't go in. It's it's one of those things where I don't want to be able to get there on in a in a timely manner and then not have the manpower to perform the job and task that's needed. Um, it just comes down to safety. Um, we've looked at starting the a chase vehicle or the emergency response vehicle is what we've kind of

deemed it as that they're doing it in Sarasota. There there's I think they're doing it in Northport as well. Um, it it works very well, but you do have to have the personnel kind of dedicated to that uh to that vehicle. And you know, they're going to run primary uh EMS calls out of station one, which will take probably, I would say, 80 to 85% of all the calls off the ladder truck uh because they won't be going to those med calls. Um they'll still go to fires, they'll still go to vehicle accidents because they carry all that, you know, specialized equipment and they'll also respond to any secondary calls. So, it actually gives us another unit in that district to kind of respond instead of waiting for um you know, if truck one's busy on a call right now, another medical call comes in, somebody that's going to come from uh station three or station two. So, um it will save us that that that drive time and actually uh put us on scene faster by having that second vehicle. So, just as a followup, so but then the concern is or the dollars, right? Because we're talking dollars is that we would just need to staff more people, which is going to, you know, it's not just the price of the truck, it's price of more more people to staff to be able to do both.

And we put that in our in our plan going forward, at least for the emergency response vehicles for station one. Um uh if you remember, um last October, you guys allowed us to buy or to hire two additional personnel. Uh this coming October, we're looking for our second or uh two people because we have three shifts and I need six people total. And then the the year after that, we're going to get that that last uh two people to to actually have and then also we're we're putting off buying that emergency response vehicle until that year. Um basically October 2027. Thank you. Do you chief you hold in what do you think the percentage of medical calls is? Percentage of medical calls overall. Yeah,

about 78% of our calls um are are medical related. I mean, it's I mean, my question was similar to Melissa's. We're sending out the expensive trucks that get right a lot of use. Sure. I don't know what the answer is, but I I mean, undoubtedly, we would have a lot of medical calls, and you guys are great showing up quickly and serving like medics because you are. Uh so,

right. Yeah, I know in the past council had looked at or made questions about, you know, does the city want to buy their own ambulances? Same thing with those. You got to put that, you know, dedicated personnel. You have the ambulances themselves. Uh then we also have to do billing. Um bunch of financials and things like that. I don't think we have the appetite for that. So, you know, at at the very least, I think that we can uh look forward to that emergency response vehicle to handling a lot of these issues. Um, you know, there there's a upside and downside. Um, I think we'll save on some wear and tear of these vehicles, but you don't want them to sit completely idle either. You know, things that just sit around

um tend to go bad as well. you know, we'll continue to do our training, uh, you know, continue to operate and, you know, exercise these vehicles, but they won't have, you know, those that continuous traffic and going going about the town. Janine Janine pulled for the record. So, um, I realize the the reserve apparatus is 22 years old. Yes. And so, you want to do away with that. Do do we sell that? What do we do with that engine? Yes, actually we do. Um, it goes through procurement process. Okay. And they have a uh I think an auction. So we will get some monies back. I mean not much. You don't get much from anything. It's

It is a shame exactly for how much you paid for them. Okay. And then the other thing is is that um engine number three you said is a 2017 year. How is it that we're suddenly upon this? Like have we been planning the last five years that we know we have to replace these as they get to be 20 years old? Do we say okay wait it's 20 years old. let's put aside for five years, you know, kind of look into the future. And

so the the problem we've been faced with is um in 2003 we purchased two engines and then the following year we we purchased a ladder truck. So you for for a number of years you used those vehicles. They were considered brand new and and working properly and and didn't have as much downtime. Um, and then over the in the past we we got a 2017, a 2018, and a 2022 is the is the current age uh that we bought our our last apparatus. So, we've been trying to spread them out. Uh, I'm not a fan of having to go to uh uh to the council and say, "Hey, we need three new brand, you know, brand new tires." Sure. Please.

Um, so what we're doing now is trying to get one that's going to um replace one of the the oldest uh apparatus in our frontline fleet. use that one as our reserve. We're going to continue to keep the um reserve ladder truck as as long as it can pass um all the annual uh inspections and um ju just because when the ladder truck goes down, it's nice to have that ladder capability.

Um and we do a lot of, you know, special events and details that are downtown that will bring the trucks out sometimes depending on what's going on. Um, and sometimes we just have to have that additional apparatus available. Um, couple four weeks ago we had truck one was down, uh, truck 52 was down and engine 3 had a check engine light going on. We were able to get um, mechanics on site pretty quickly. Uh, they determined that the check engine light was not uh, critical uh, that we could run with it until the part came in. uh truck one uh went into limp mode and it took us two weeks to get the part in to fix it.

So, and we would have been in truck 52, but it it still had the turbo issue at the time. So, uh we were utilizing uh engine 53 for that two weeks. Debbie Lux, for the record, would it be wise to maybe consider setting money aside every single year, you know, so that when it comes time to getting another one, we've actually got money allocated for it, so it's not a big ask every single time, if we have that in our funds to do that.

Yeah. So, um, we do currently do that in the general fund. We have a five-year capital outlay plan that the divisions um update every year and based on that plan we say how much we need to fund per year. So some years it might be over and other years it might be less but all those funds continue to carry over. So as long as it's in the five-year plan it gets put in. It's whether it's in the right year or not is and again, no one's crystal ball about when things are going to go down or all of a sudden just be a big issue might move some of those things up. With this one, they do have it in their plan for they originally had it in their plan for replacement in a few years,

but the problem is you can't get it built as quickly as you So, the money is going to be there when it when it's needed, but unfortunately, they have to get it ordered way ahead of time in this case because of the timing. And it didn't used to be that way, but now it's getting that way. Any other questions? Move to approve 6D fire department apparatus replacement. Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Um, favor. I opposed. Motion carries. Thank you guys. Caught us on a good day, I think. Yeah. And and just

I was going to say I was um we'll bring an appropriation back just to get it on the books for the actual funding to to issue the purchase order. Perfect. Okay. And it's coming out of the reserves. And just so the record's clear, you guys were voting on the fire truck. The fire truck without the prepayment penalty. That's right. That's correct. Yes. Yes. Without the pre without prepayment.

Thank you, Steve. Okay, next on the agenda is the local options sales tax. Good afternoon, Boyd Lawrence, planning director. Just wanted to um just give a little background on the uh local option sales tax or infra infrastructure sir tax is authorized under state Florida state law requires approval by Charlotte County voters through referendum. The city receives 10% share of the revenue. Um I think the currently uh dates back to the mid90s that Charlotte County has participated or utilized this tax through the referendum. Uh revenue from this tax may be used for planning, financing or constructing infrastructure, acquiring land for public recreation, conservation or protection of natural resources and loans, grants or rebates for residential, commercial, energy efficient improvements, uh economic development projects up to 15%. Funds may not be used for operational expenses. The current uh 1% sales tax authorization expires uh this December. So, uh, the referendum coming up in November would be for the the following, uh, January if it is approved.

Uh, this was the timeline we had uh, for the sales tax referendum. Um, and we are in schedule. We uh, went through seven meetings with the committee. Um, I guess this will be our first presentation of the project, so we'll bring it back on the 25th to get a a final. The county uh steering committee uh has a meeting tomorrow. I'll probably attend that to see where they're at and let them know where we're at. Sales tax committee consisted of 16 uh community members who brought a blend of business and cultural knowledge of the city. We held our kickoff meeting on July 8th, 2025. We conducted a total of seven meetings concluding with the final meeting last month of February 24th. We reviewed approximately 50 capital improvement projects and the committee not only provided some rankings but also provided good feedback on CF projects in general because we reviewed all of them. Made some good suggestions. We there are a lot of projects there. Um some of which may might they're important but might not see funding sidewalk projects or complete street projects. And one suggestion was to establish a fund for these uh perhaps through the sales tax build that fund and and then select a project uh that would be worthwhile. Um and we came up with top five recommendations. I I didn't include all the there is a list of the rankings on on another sheet but this was the top five ranked uh in order reverse osmosis water plant downtown flooding phase three. Of course, this is the Kimley Horn study. We don't have projects developed yet. So, this will essentially be uh funding those projects when they're developed. Same with Lashley Marina improvements. This was added late after we had our workshop to perhaps u include some improvements once uh projects are identified. We had the new replacement fire truck

rated high and then the public safety building expansion. get down to the um all the projects. I should um I'll get back to to that in a minute. This is the scoring sheet we used. Um believe it was used six years ago as well too. We kept the criteria uh basic. There was a larger longer form sheet that initially the committee wanted to use but then decided to go to this one. Um these five questions were also in the longer form. Uh so the rate the highest rating could be a 15 on the projects and then this is the complete list. There are directors here from the departments. I included the the CIP sheets that I think you've seen before but I included the five for the top five projects. That's the the reverse osmosis. The 21 million is the unfunded portion to seek the u funds for. And also in the downtown flooding, that's a preliminary figure. Of course, once projects are developed, that could be a higher amount as well or will be. That's the complete list. Is there any other sheets you wanted to see or any questions you might have about those projects? We'll be bringing them back in two weeks uh where we could then get the approval forward to the county.

I see. Um I actually have a question about the committee itself. Uh I had a couple people that were on the committee reach out to me and say that couple issues that it was hard to have a quorum. sometimes they weren't able to meet and that there were actually some people that were on the list that never showed up. And if that's the case, I would think I think all of us should be aware of who that was. And you know, maybe if they're in whoseever district have a conversation because by memory, I think, you know, we didn't have everybody on the list, but we had, you know, our pick of who we wanted. Um, and I don't believe they should be able to participate because I know there was a lot of people that wanted to be on that, you know, on that committee. So, I'm not sure if that's the truth or not, but maybe look into it. And

we we had the the one meeting uh originally scheduled in early February where we didn't have a quorum, but then we rescheduled that uh February 24th and we did have a forum for that meeting. So, it was one meeting we didn't have. I'm I'm more worried about if there's people on the list that never showed up because that that took away from somebody else that might have wanted to participate. So, yeah, we had um in the beginning better turnout and then it leveled off a little bit and I understand there were maybe one or two that were travel out of the country. uh at at some point too. So there was some Thank you. some people away. Jennifer has more details on the attendance.

I was just going to offer that the clerk's office would be happy to prepare that attendance information and send that around to council. I think I'd like that. Yeah, there were regular attendees that came to almost all the meetings and they were very very helpful, good information provided and it was good experience for me uh meeting them and working with them. So, thank you. Boy, I'm sorry. I I may have missed it. So, if the 1% sales tax is approved, how much do you think the city will have for those next few years to play with? I think it's it's averaged about uh four million a year, right? Is what we have told the sales tax committee. Is that for five years? The program remember

per year. The county I understand for years. For how many years? I'm six years potentially. The county is considering a longer sales tax program. Um they they have not made that final determination yet though.

Deb for the record. I I think one of the biggest concerns when we're looking at this, number one, if we don't get it, that's a whole new ball game for us. But number two, one of my concerns that I'm I'm also looking at is we have a lot of projects here that we haven't completed yet. And it's really tough to say we're going to take on these extra projects when we haven't completed something. So, I'd like to see the list like a lot less to know what we really want. And I, you know, saying, you know, like the top four or whatever. My only other thing, and I I've said this, mentioned this before, Lashley Marina, I think if I recall, and please correct me if I'm wrong, um, if that makes revenue, you can't put it into the general fund. It always has to stay at Lashley. So, if we're using the 1% sales tax, I would like to consider that as, and Kristen, I don't even know if this is feasible, considering it as a loan so that it can go back to the general fund, you know, once it's paid. So, if we give 800,000 as a loan that it can come back to us instead of once it gets revenue, we'll never be able to get that money back. Did that make sense?

I think the infrastructure suffered, isn't it? Um may work with the attorney to look at that. Maybe it's considered an economic development project possibly. Um, and the revenues go back to the operations. All right. Because I just remember, well, the revenues are for operations, but this particular project, and I know they put annual on there, the 800,000 annual um Yeah, it's really actually for reconstructing the whole Yeah.

the slips and everything like that that are needed or the the whole um item. So, I do understand what you're saying and that might be a concern. So, we'll definitely look into that and double check that um in the statute. And it says, you know, annual and then how many is that forever annual or is that No. And I think when they were saying annual, I think they were talking about that's maybe what would come back. I don't know. Um because really the cost would not be annual. Like obviously if you did a a capital project, it would be however much that cost was to do the project fund because we weren't sure what the Oh, so okay. So, they were talking about um 800,000 a year to add up to, but again, this would be a priority project to try and move forward. So, I'm not sure that that would work. You'd probably want to do more of that up front.

We don't know the projects yet specifically or the or the costs. I think there's still assessments being done by public works.

And I don't know if anybody else I was looking at the phases for the downtown flooding and it said phase three. I didn't realize that you were considering like the one back in 2008 was phase one, 2012 was phase two and and I apologize because I was looking at, you know, we had one where we were talking about this is just the initial phase of this part, you know, with Kimy Horn, but we have another part. So that was where I was hitting phases. So I was like, okay, what did when did we do phase two? So now that made a little bit clear. I don't know if anybody else was thinking that or if I was totally off on it myself. Um, that is one of the things that I think especially with how much money it's costing right now for just the study with the downtown flooding and this is a huge concern for our community. I think that's where we really have to focus a lot of our funding into is is this of course the firetruck and and you know the the radios, but that's a that's going to be a big bill. I I'm afraid.

Yes. and and for phase one and phase two, we did get grant funding for for portions of that project or a majority of the project. Um so again, we would continue to look for that those opportunities. You know, again, we just don't know what's available at this time with the various um federal programs and things like that, but we would continue to continue to look for opportunities. But my my and please if if I'm wrong, I recall saying remembering that we really didn't do anything with phase one or phase two because it would cost too much money. So we just did these studies and spent all this money, but we didn't have the funds to follow through with it. And that's what I don't want to happen again with this study is that we we get all the information and we just don't have the funds for it. And I I want to make sure that we we really think about that.

Yeah. So I think on the first study they did do those those were the phase one and twos that got done but maybe additional projects that were in that study didn't get completed. Right. So but um they did move forward with the two phase the first two phases of downtown flooding just portions of it without Yeah. And and again we we look for grant opportunities for those. So what do you need from us then? Anything or just is this just informative?

You had any additional questions otherwise we'll bring these back. uh on the 25th they get a final approval from the council what to bring to the county present to them maybe establish that how we would establish the language for the uh the referendum I don't know if that's too early for that or not but yeah the the county typically handles that we just provide them with our project list okay so they would handle

but what we will need to do is we'll need to come up with how much we want to allocate towards each of those projects whether we want to allocate them as tier one, which is money that we're pretty confident is going to come in, but just in case a little extra comes in, then we'll have tier two projects as well. So, we'll have to take a look at Marina and and especially like when you look at reverse osmosis expansion, you know, that's that's a huge chunk of change right there too. And you know what what we want to do? So, Just so you know, currently on the reverse osmosis plant expansion, we do got the $35 million on SRF. 50% is um

and we're working on that application. We have worked with our bond council and financial advisor to put out a bid at least for short-term financing so that um we could get the full difference so that everyone is assured that that project is moving forward, right? Um, so that is out on the street right now and everything like that. So I did want to let you know that. Um, but obviously any funding that council may want to allocate and we're not saying allocate the whole 21 million or anything like that. That's up to council how you want to allocate those funds. Um, but obviously any any amount that goes towards that would reduce the funding that or the financing that would be needed for for that project. Right. Right. Anybody else have any questions on this?

Thank you. Well, I do have one question. The radios are now in this list, right? Yep. So, we have to add that current funds. It's coming out of the existing public safety the public safety building. Okay. It's part of the whole infrastructure for the for the um public safety. Okay. As long as technically instead of 6.9 would be less. project updates. Thank you.

So, I'll go ahead with that. The city council chambers, the bid is in the award process. Right now, we're just waiting for the insurance and bonds to come in. As long as things keep moving the way they are right now, we should be on track for a late summer uh entry back into that building. the public safety assessment. The bid was open with three responses. We are working on the scope of work from the top break firm for the booster and water main improvements. The wellfield improvements. Um we keep moving that forward through the process. The same with the ARO expansion. You heard Kristen talk about the various financing that that we're working on right now. The Tiki Point project bid document was released. We had some projects that weren't on say the priority project list uh but are important to our community. The pedestrian bridge at Nature Park has been reopened thanks to public works. Shade structure installed at linear park on the pathway there. Ron and Brian had a great meeting with FDA. We're filing a temporary use agreement for the new temporary configuration of the marina so we can get some of those slips back open. Uh, we are also submitting an exemption application to reconstruct the marina in the same footprint. This would eliminate the full permitting process, move things along quicker. We may still have some issues to address with Army Corps, but overall that's really good news. Nice.

Um, I did want to just comment on a couple things that were brought up by Mr. Ko this morning. The R on the Herald Court that quote and Wreck are in in procurement right now. So, that should be happening fairly quickly. Um Ron has also gone ahead and got quotes on awnings for that building to replace the awnings, but that looking back in better conditions to um the fence at the utilities building, that's the one Henry that was talked about. Um that is not going to be replaced until the rehab is done at the facility so that we don't have to do it twice. So we don't put up fence, take it down when we're bringing in equipment to rehab the facility. That was it. And then any questions that you have on projects,

and and I think to your point because I've been asked about the R a lot as well. And from what I'd heard was that the thought was you're going to have to to rent a lifter to go up there. And I think the B the building's going to be repainted as well. So why, you know, rent it to put the R up to have to then rent it again, you know? So they were trying to do everything at once, right? So just just for public knowledge. Yeah. And Melissa, I think you've got the sophets on the list too for the for that tower there on Herald Court that are missing. Yes. And birds are going in there and making home is aware of of that.

Yeah. Okay. Great. So good. Oh, the fence at the um the fence at the annex building, that fence is in the process. The fence that's up right now is not sturdy. It'll keep happening. What happened before people climb over it, people bend it. We are in the process of putting together a a quote for a new fence that'll be sturdier and look better. That's good. Any other questions for boards and committees? So, while Jennifer is coming up here, it was brought to my attention that um on the historic board um one of the gentlemen, it's his fourth time. So they need to he he would be losing his position. Um I know you normally have to go through proper protocol but we just had to decide between two applicants and I if we had a consensus I would just like to see if we could nominate and appoint the other gentleman which I believe is Mr. Ziggler. um if if that if we don't go through the proper protocol if that's okay for us to do a consensus and just approve him to go on so that that can stay the five board members.

Is that okay Jennifer?

So that it's up to council in terms of the um amending the procedure for announcing vacancies, appointing uh doing nominations and making appointments to the boards. Um I will let you know that. Yes. So we have um it'll actually be the vacancy will be announced at the March 25th meeting for the forefeiter. Um because of the timing of it, it happened after the agenda for this meeting was published. So we weren't able to put it on this agenda. But um right now the way it would run is there would be the vacancy announcement for that seat on the March 25th council meeting and then nominations would be on the April 8th agenda. Um Mr. Ziggler's application is still valid from the last time um you all heard an HPAB opening. Uh and I did confirm with my office that we have also had interest from one of the current alternates on HPAB to be considered for that regular seat. So that application um would also be on the April 8th agenda, but obviously it's completely up to council if you want to go ahead and amend that process for this seat. Um or you know, you can discuss everything from revising the announcement and appointment process generally for the boards. You can do it for this one seat. That's completely up to council. But that's just kind of the layout of how it would have worked um or how it would typically work is we'd have the vacancy announcement and then we'd have the nominations at the following council meeting. And regarding the HPAB vacancy, um we do currently have two interested parties. I don't know if we've confirmed that Mr. Ziggler was still interested, but he was informed that his application would um remain on file for a period of 12 months. So, we're still within that window for his application. Jennifer, he's been coming to all of our council meetings and he's here today.

He's here. Oh, okay. Hello.

So, yeah. I mean, so basically to answer your question, it's up to council how you would like to proceed with filling this vacancy. If you'd like to do it based on the procedure um that we typically follow or if you would like to make an exception based on the circumstances for this vacancy, that's entirely up to council. So, I normally would say you always want to have two people, but he has been coming to every single council meeting. He's been on, you know, going to other events and going to meetings. And I know that he was one of the two last time. And I'd like to make this as a special exception for just this one time to consider, you know, nominating and appointing him because he's been so active in our community. And he he was pretty passionate with um where he lives and what he does. and he actually had one of the historic homes that he could have had torn down, but he worked really hard to keep one of our beautiful homes. And thank you so much for doing that. So,

if everyone's okay with it, I'll move to approve uh or HPAB board nominate and appoint, excuse me, Mr. Ziegler. I'll second that. We all good for that? We need a vote. Okay. So, we have a motion and a second to nominate and appoint Mr. Ziggler. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. Welcome aboard. Okay.

All right. So then for the remainder of the board and committee items, um the rest of the vacancies, we have one regular seat coming up on the building board, a regular and alternate seat for the Burnt Store Isles Canal Advisory Committee, um an upcoming uh vacancy for the code enforcement board, a one regular and one alternate seat for the utility advisory board, and that's it for the upcoming vacancies. And then for the nominations, um, so we've got on the Punorta Housing Authority, one commissioner seat, um, Miss Alexia Martin, who is currently serving in that position. Her term expires May 21st, and she has expressed an interest in continuing to serve and is eligible to do so. The appointment would be for another three-year term expiring May of 2029. At this time, council may choose to nominate, nominate, and appoint or continue to announce the vacancy for the housing authority.

I would like to nominate appoint Miss uh Martin. I'll second. We have a nomination, a second to appoint Alexia Martin. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. Okay.

Then we had a nomination for an alternate position on the Panagorta Isles Canal Advisory Committee. You all heard from Mr. James Merritt. I'm not sure if he's still here. Um but he's he did an introduction this morning. It would be for a um three-year term expiring 2029. Again, it's for an alternate seat on the PGI Canal Committee. Uh Mr. Merritt has expressed an interest in serving and is eligible to do so. At this time, council may choose to nominate, nominate, and appoint or continue to announce the vacancy. I'll move to nominate and appoint Mr. Merritt. Second. Second that. Okay. We have a motion and a second to nominate and appoint Mr. Merritt. All in favor? Oppose. Motion carries.

And then the last item under boards and committees we have is an appointment for the police officer's pension board for a the city resident seat. Um council nominated Jawa Cummings at the January 29th meeting. To date, no other applications have been received for this opening. So at this time, council may choose to appoint continue the nomination to a date certain or withdraw the nomination and continue to announce the vacancy. Move to appoint Jaha Cummings. Second. We have a motion, a second to appoint Jaha Cummings. All in favor? I opposed. No, I I I was late in responding to in favor. Okay. So, five favors in favor. Motion carries. Thank you.

All righty. Great. You want to give us a report while you're there?

Yes. And actually, I apologize. Um, I know it's been a very long meeting and I I hate to go back to an agenda item, but I did as I was looking over my notes for the um the FLC fast uh event. I just wanted to ask a clarification question from council in terms of so there's the travel expenses and then there's there is a registration fee of $100 for that. Was it council's intention to have council member Julian cover all of the expenses including that registration fee or would council like to approve the city paying the registration fee because there is still money in that account and that amount and there that account is not um divvied up per council member. So I just wanted to get that clarification on the record like I said for the um purposes of our travel expense. There's also been a question that was raised by finance about whether or not if the city covers no costs for the council member, then does the insurance still apply? And so that's something that if you all want to um want to wait on a decision about that registration fee until we get that information, we can. I believe the registration deadline for the trip is May. So, we have a little bit of time. We could bring that back to you if that's, you know, an important factor in your decision or if you would like to move forward with approving the city pay the regist the $100 registration fee or um having council member Julian cover that in addition to the travel expenses.

I will cover it.

Okay. Then we'll make sure to get information and if for some reason that does affect the insurance coverage, we'll bring you that information and we can get, you know, get your input on that at that at that time. Okay. Thank you for indulging me on that. All right. In terms of announcements, um, for the 2026 election, um, the candidate packets are available online and we encourage all candidates, including incumbents, to take the clerk's candidate orientation, which reviews the scope of council member duties, application of the sunshine law, public records laws, and ethics financial disclosures, as well as information about the campaign finance reporting and going over those forms. Um, we wanted to remind everyone that qualifying this year will be June 8th through June 12th. And the council seats that will be on the ballot are districts 1, 2, and 4. I also wanted next to um, she's probably not listening. She's probably taking payment for irrigation citations, but the clerk's office did want to say um, welcome to Delicia Damaso. She came to us from the building department and um is now the admin assistant over at um the city clerk's office as part of our succession planning for when Perry, our business tax coordinator, retires. Um so she's been catching on very quickly, has great rapport with residents. We're very excited to have Delicia with us. So thanks Delicia if you're listening. Um, since I mentioned the irrigation citations, we did want to just let everybody remind everyone that those can be paid in person or by mail. Um, I guess there's been some confusion amongst the residents. The way the citation is worded, they thought that they had to come to the clerk's office to pay that in person. So, I wanted to let everybody know it can be done by mail um or at our office, but we are not able to accept credit card payments. So, it's got to be cash, check, or money order. Um, and our office is over in the Herald Court parking garage. We put have a nice sign out there now in case people

are wandering around trying to figure out where our front door is. Um and payments are accepted Monday through Friday 8 to 4:30 p.m. Okay, just a couple more announcements. Sorry, the clerk's office has been busy. Um we were approved the clerk's office was approved to participate in Sunost Remake Learning Days. We had mentioned that a couple meetings ago that we were um submitting applications for that. Um the two events that we will be holding um are Saturday, April 18th from 10:00 am to 12 pm. That event is called Just Desserts and Discourse. And it is um an opportunity to join the clerk's office for a sugar laced public speaking activity going over tips and tricks to make sure you're the sweetest talker in the room. So that is open to everyone from ages, you know, 9 to 99. Um we encourage you to uh register for that. There is no cost to attend and the desserts will be generous generously provided by our collaborating partner First Baptist Church Panagorta. Um if you all were at the fall festival last year, they were the ones who did the dessert walk and they brought some really good stuff. So they'll be doing that again for our Sun Coast Remake Learning Days event. Um, the other event that we're holding as part of that festival is going to be on Friday, April 24th from 6:00 to 900 PM. It's called Picture Perfect Projects and Popcorn. Um, it is going to be a again a free familyfriendly arts and crafts movie night in Lashley Park. Um, snacks will be provided and attendees are encouraged to bring picnic supplies, etc. And then last but not least, um, fall festival 2026. I know it feels like October already, but um planning is underway for the third annual fall festival, which is going to be held on Saturday, October 17th from 10:00 a.m. to 400 p.m. at Lashley Park. Um we're very excited to co-host this year with the Panagorta Chamber of Commerce and bring an

exciting new element to the festival, which is going to be a community nonprofit expo. So, in addition to um uh Fall Fest attendees being able to get information about the resources offered by the nonprofits in Panagorta, they'll also be able to find out information if they would like to volunteer with that organization, donate to that organization. Um if someone is looking for a, you know, organization board to be on something like that. So, um, we're really excited about the the expansion of Fall Festival, um, with the Chamber of Commerce this year, and we hope you all mark the date on your calendar, October 17th, Lashley Park. All righty. Thank you so much. Thank you, Jennifer.

Sure.

I'll continue with the thank yous. Last Friday was employee appreciation day, and I just want to let all of our employees know how very much we appreciate all of their work each and every day. not just on employee appreciation day and to specifically call out OD Dallas, Mike and Ashley for going out and meeting everybody in the city and telling them how much we value them working with us. So that was a really nice touch. I want to remind council that with Mike on board, I've come to the point where I'm really comfortable with Mike handling the media relations. I'm comfortable with what he's doing on Facebook and our other social media channels. So, if we could go back to the way that we had previously operated where we would have the assistant city manager handle all the media for the city, that would be great. Um, if you want to have more discussion about that, we certainly can. But, um, as far as I'm concerned, Mike's ready to go and and he's he's already working the media. So,

great. He's very personable.

We received a note of thanks from Tom and Joyce Griffin and their dog Jake. Our firefighters went out and went to change the smoke detector batteries. Of course, it turned out it wasn't just the batteries, it was the smoke detectors. So, they went out again and helped them. The firefighters were professional. Um, they also took the time to calm down the dog because I don't know if their dog is horribly like mine. When those smoke detectors beep, it drives the dogs crazy. And they were just so thankful. She sent me a a handwritten card that just really talking about how great our firefighters were. And then on another good note, the heart of the harbor conversation will take place on March 26 from 4 to 6 at the Pagora Library. That is going to be an open time to talk with city staff. Um we really want to hear what residents think about budget, about strategic planning, about what they love about this city and what they'd like to see improved in the city. So hopefully we'll see everybody there. And just a note on that, council members, of course, you are welcome to attend, but because of sunshine laws, plea, please note that it it will not be interactive for you necessarily. You'd just be there in a in a listening capacity.

That's all I have. Great. Um, I don't really have much to report to you guys, so that's kind of a good thing. Oalis is doing a good job holding the fort down in the legal department. Um, but just the same matters that we've had, just the R.J. Gorman still pending and then the one lawsuit regarding um not picking up trash fast enough after Hurricane Helen. That's it. The legal department is moving is moving smoothly right now. Don't say don't chase us. Is moving. Melissa, no, nothing today. Janice, no, I'm good. Sorry.

Nothing further. No, I just want to give a shout out to Chief Smith. Thank you so much. District 1 requested that um people slow down on Marion and Olympia. It's gotten out of hand. It usually does this time of year. And I very much appreciate you guys putting a police car out there. It even shocked me one night when I was driving and I wasn't going I was only going like 25 and I was like, "Oh." So anyway, we very much appreciate it. There's a lot of people walking right now. Um, it's very dangerous. People would be driving 40, 45 miles an hour down those two streets. Very dangerous. So, please be careful. Slow down. And, um, that's all I have. Thank you.

Um, I've had, uh, a few people come up to me, um, upset with the mangrove cutings. And I didn't know if we should have something where it says our contract and how the mangroves are cut and by the professionals, how far down, because I know some of them are very, very upset thinking that we're just chopping them down. And I know that it helps flourish them and stuff, but I just didn't know if we needed any awareness, maybe even someplace, did you know about mangroves, how to do it, and how to take care of them? Um, yeah, they were just upset. Yeah, so yeah, could we just handle that from a public awareness standpoint? I think that would be really good.

Yeah. And I know when we brought up the land development regulations with the finances and stuff like that, I I I think that may be a good time for us to consider hiring a land use attorney to make sure that we're dotting our eyes and crossing our tees when that time comes. I think that's really important. So, I'd like to have a consensus on that as well. Maybe even the one that we we hired who seemed to be very knowledgeable about what we were doing. At what point would we bring that person in? I mean, can we make our put all all our heads together then bring them in? Yeah, I would I would suggest we put our heads together before, you know, that way it's less time hiring him.

And also, I'm sure Janine pole for the record, I'm sure it's something he's done before. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibilities that he's been in this position before. So, it it would be great to just ask that person, you know, how do you go about these land development regulation changes? And then with that, you know, when I was looking at the articles, I know we went through um a couple of meetings with uh the zoning official responsibilities, but then when we went back to repeal, now we have a zoning official in there. We probably should like incorporate what we talked about with the zoning official with the repealed LDRs and maybe try to incorporate them into the existing ones because, you know, a a lot of that just to make sure that, you know, we're still on the same page with what we were doing with the resolution that we made with that as well. Um, one other thing that, um, I had a couple of people talk to me was like the astroure of the fake lawns. Um, very invasive. One of the things that concerned me is if we're looking at our quality of life, you know, we need bugs, we need bees, we need, you know, all this and they live in our grass. And then if we've got this and it has chemicals in it, is that leeching into our soil? Is that causing future issues? So, I'd really like at some point somebody to take a a closer look because right now I think we allowed that to be put in our yards and and I think that's something that we really need to look at more carefully to see if it's environmentally safe and that um it's something that we should use and as well as the land development regulations. I know we talked about it already, Rachel, with the pvious structures for parking as as part of that. Um,

I know a lot of people were upset with getting code enforcement on the watering lawns and I know we try to do every which way we can to make the announcement out there. It's very difficult. Um, I did make a suggestion to Dr. Missy and I I I agree with her now that I made the suggestion. And I was saying to put it on alert went to Gorda, but you know, I don't know how much bigger we can put it in the weekly highlight reports and maybe asking everybody to just spread the word that, you know, we are on a water restriction. We really need to be. Thank goodness for the rain that we got last week. But, you know, just please try to, you know, keep on telling people to be on a water restriction. And last thing I'm going to say because it is St. Patrick's Day and my father was a full-blooded Irishman. Um, may your troubles be less, your blessings be more, and nothing but happiness come through your door.

And with that, you know, still public comment with that. Okay. Public comment. Okay. I thought you were going to No, I thought No, I thought you were going to journ. Well, good afternoon,

Tim Richie. Still Tim Richie. Uh the 1% local option sales tax. First thing, first line, planning, financing or constructing infrastructure. The next line acquiring land for public recreation, conservation or protection of natural resources. I know we're all being restricted with water, but you want to know who isn't being restricted for water usage? Mosaic fertilizer phosphate mining. I've I've I've watched a lot of stuff. You know what I'd like to see with the the League of City representation? I'd like to see them actually do something.

I'd like I'd like to see our voted representatives really really do something. Four years we've had Brandon Moody, Charlotte County, Dr. Richard Whitman, Healer Harbor. Two years ago, public announcement front of Danny Nicks and Vanessa Oliver. The Peace River is dying. I I don't know how much more, but I'll tell you what, I'm going to I'm going to crank it up a few more notches because I expect I expect more than what we're getting. And you know, and in all the time doing this and I had to tell Dr. Pitts, the head of the Gromagin Club, that you, sir, and many other people haven't lifted one finger to save the Peace River. But I have heard all kinds of stuff and I am telling you all right now, this this is a this is the most important issue in our city and in our county. And Senator Al Britain certainly hasn't helped and Vanessa Oliver certainly hasn't and nor has Danny Nicks. And that's because we have poor representation. We need our champions. That is you. We need the A team to step it up. Byron Donald's is coming. We all need to be

there. I'll be there. This this deal here with Mosaic and our water and the abuse of these rivers from Tampa Bay to Charlotte Harbor is completely unacceptable. And how anybody sleeps at night blows my mind. Thank you, Tim. You're welcome.

I have to be real quick. I'm Maria Compton. You already met me. I just want to say thank you. Thank you for having a forum where we can invite our kids. Um, it takes a lot for an 8-year-old or an 18-year-old or anybody like that to get up and and I think hopefully you see that they're legitimately scared that we're going to do something that affects really does affect their quality of life. So, thank you. And just please be careful of making restrictions that make just childhood more difficult because these kids, you know, they're not perfect. None of them are. You saw a representation of a couple blocks of kids and there's many more that couldn't get out of school today. So, let's just be very careful with restricting something that affects them and tolerating things that are, you know, not maybe as important. So, thank you guys for listening to them and being respectful of them as well. Thank you.

Thank you. They are good children. Good. Wendy, before you start, I I forgot one. I scribbled down a couple notes that I missed. Um I know Halo is here asking us about the consent. I don't know if anybody discussed that. Uh Halo, I don't know if any of us privately discussed that to see if there's anything that we need to do. I didn't know if we had to have it on for consent to discuss it. If you're going to want to discuss it, you're going to have to get consensus to put it on the next agenda. Yeah. So, let's put it on the next agenda. We have consensus with that. We drove down the other day. It's awful. So, sorry I I missed I missed that.

Wendy Mueller, I I just want to chime in with null. Um Janice has asked several times for the um storm shutters to come off of the city hall and we've all heard the same excuses. Um I just looked it up. Home Depot has 48 inch wide blackout shades that actually stick up in the window. I know because I'm cheap and bought one for a bathroom. Um, they work. And put it on the inside. Take the shades down. You have a 1% sign in front of the building that hasn't budged. Yeah.

So, if you want to vote it in, maybe you ought to show us that it's working. Thanks. Thanks, honey. Senator,

Dr. Reichart, Cindy O'Hara, um, thank you for all the work you do. I know you're working very, very hard and the information that I needed. Thank you for getting that to me. When you said Tiki Project, are you referring to the Gilchrist Pavilion project? No, I am not.

Okay. I didn't hear that mentioned today. Was that There was nothing brought up. Nothing. Okay, fine. Second, um there's never agendas here. Every time I come, no agenda. Even if I get here a little early. Could and and I just one of the people in the back table told me where to go on the site, but you know, for all these people coming here, they don't know the protocol. You really should have either get enough agendas. Like every council meeting anywhere in the country I went to, they made sure they brought a lot more the next time if they were always running out. But that never happens here. Or post either on the screen or on the back table how people can go online and look at the agenda. Just kind of uh you know and then back to the Bayfront Center. One more more thing. You know, the more I look at this and think about it and everything that went goes into it, it makes so much sense. It makes zero sense to put a gigantic pavilion in Gilchrist Park when we have five already and three that sit empty almost all the time. It makes zero sense. What makes sense is to put it at Lashley Park and you already have the bathrooms there and you have the kids water splash pad. Now they could have birthday parties during the day if they, you know, because those little pavilions at in the playground, the two that they have in the playground, I see birthday parties in there all the time. They're never big enough. And then it pushes out the regular people that go there all the time. I go with my grandson constantly and there's a birthday party under the pavilion that I like to sit in and there's only four tables there. So, I mean, it just makes so much sense. If you can transfer that money that we have from for the the Bayfront Center for now, put it into the a pavilion at at Lashley. There's never anywhere to sit at the seafood festivals. the movie night. We were all outside in, you know,

the air and it was cold. I mean, it just would make sense. Total sense the more I look at that and you really ought to think about that. Thank you.

I know you're all waiting for this to be over. U Mario Verico 170 Bezore Court. I want to thank you also for hearing me today. Um, it's a very long time since I've really had a voice of my own to speak out. Anyone, as my invitation stands, may come to my home. You have my information. Reach out to me in the evening. I'm sure the children would put on a basketball game for you across the canal. I think you need to see the light. I think you need to see the noise and hear the noise. Well, hear the noise, not see the noise. I think you really need to do that. And you're more than welcome. I'll serve iced tea, potato chips, and maybe nachos. I really I make good nachos. Um, again, thank you so much for hearing my voice. I appreciate you.

Does anybody else have anything to say? If not, meeting adjourned. Thank you.