Local Planning Agency - Regular Meeting

Regular meeting of the Stewart City Commission to order on August 10th, 2026 at 4.17 p.m. Mary, if you could do the roll call.

Mayor Reed.

Here.

Commissioner Clark. Here. Commissioner Giobbe. Here. Commissioner Rich.

Here. And we have an invocation by President Joanne Gillespie from the Humanist of the Treasure Coast. And if you could lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance after. Yes.

Thank you. Thank you. good afternoon commissioners staff and neighbors as summer wraps us in its warmth and long days we gather with purpose and hope for what is possible summer invites us to take stock to nurture what's working tend what needs care and keep reaching toward the future we want to build let us take a moment to reflect on the heart of public service Thomas Jefferson once wrote, the care of human life and happiness is the first and only legitimate object of good government. May those words ground you as you consider the needs of our neighbors, not just today, but in the seasons to come. May you bring empathy to your debates, clarity to your decisions, and humility to your leadership. let us listen well speak thoughtfully and work towards solutions that reflect our shared commitment to the city of stewart's well-being with gratitude for this responsibility and for the opportunity to lead together may you begin today's work with clear eyes steady hands and an open mind thank you

And then next up we have an arts moment with a local artist named Sean McGraw.

Put up my website.

I'd like to thank Ms. Clark for inviting me across the hall. Hello, hello? Oh, not close enough? Okay, good. Thank you, Ms. Clark, for inviting me for this, and thank you to all of you for this moment of the arts. So my name's Sean. I'm a local artist. I'm originally from Jupiter, but I spend a lot of my life up here. And I was an educator up here for a bit at Martin High, the art teacher. So I do local boat and flora-fauna painting, I guess you'd call it, landscapes. And then I also do sculpture. I do figurative sculpture, a lot of seminal history, Florida history sculpture. I know Mr. Smith does lots of birds and animals and I do the people part of that. But anyways, I brought these to show y'all and the council. There you go.

Great.

And that's kind of all I have to say. Is that okay? Am I good?

Okay. Perfect. We do have a certificate of appreciation as well for you. I know the mic's a little low, I feel.

Oh, maybe I got to get it really close. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Okay. I don't usually speak publicly, so please.

I know that you've done a rendition of the House of Representatives. Refuge I actually I did I actually brought stickers for all of you of one of the drawings so I was gonna give those out Whenever that's appropriate and you you you were in the Martin County High School when we were doing the mural along the I was involved with that mural.

Yes. Mm-hmm. That's right with the governor and Seminole Indian on there that we made sure that was on there and That was my part of that. Yep, I was the art teacher at Martin High for a while. I was the art teacher at Lincoln Park Academy in St. Lucie County, where the highwaymen started also. But now I do this full time, so.

You share offices besides?

I do. I'm really lucky. I have the best attorney next to me right here. It's really nice to have that as an office neighbor. Good job.

Thank you, Sean.

Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you, everybody.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you. Thank you, Sean. Sean. I'll give it to Mary and then.

Well, I am, but there's extra, so he might like to have them back. Well, I can give it to Don and then to.

You had your light on. Yes, I did.

Before Sean leaves, I just wanted to tell everyone if they could look him up and follow him on Facebook or just look up his website. His work is beautiful. Thank you, Sean.

Thanks.

Next up, we have a proclamation for Constitution Week. The recipient will be Ray Skmeka, if I'm pronouncing that right. Okay. From a member of the Hale-Patioke Chapter of the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution. Lee, if you could read the proclamation.

Sure. Constitution Week, September 17th through the 23rd, 2026, whereas September 17th, 2026 marks the 239th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution of the United States of America by 39 brave patriots. and whereas it is fitting and proper to accord official recognition to this enduring document and this memorable anniversary and to the patriotic celebrations and educational events which will commemorate the occasion, and whereas Public Law 915 assures the issuing of a proclamation each year by the President of the United States of America designating September 17th through the 23rd as Constitution Week, Now, therefore, I, Sean Reed, Mayor of the City of Stewart, do hereby proclaim September 17th through the 23rd, 2026 as Constitution Week.

Thank you, Mayor Reed and members of the City Council for this proclamation. The commitment of the DAR is to encourage study and educate the public about the Constitution, which was adopted by the American Congress of the Confederation on September 17th This supports DAR's overall mission, areas of historic preservation, education, and patriotism. Please join us in ringing the bell at 4 o'clock on September 17th at the gazebo. On behalf of our almost 300 members of Hale-Pedioki Chapter, thank you.

Thank you. And on behalf of the city, we have a proclamation to present as well, if you all want to get in with the photo as well for it. Oh, Commissioner Clark had a comment as well.

Thank you. Well, if they could come up for the photograph, but there's a great many people in the D. A. R. Mona, you can come up. Um, so Patriot, We're just like so full of that patriotism at the City of Stewart. Come on in the center here. Because for July 4th, could you tell us a little bit about the donation that you did to the City of Stewart at Gazebo Park?

Yes, we raised money for a patriot marker to commemorate the sacrifice of the patriots to the City of Stewart, and it's in Gazebo Park.

And you decorated the gazebo for July 4th, and I think we still have the decorations up.

And we also bought two flags here, the America 250 flags.

Yeah, the America 250. All that was done by the DAR for the city of Stewart. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mona, thank you. Thanks.

The next proclamation that we have is commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir The recipient is Mark Perry from Florida Oceanographic Society. Lee, if you could read the proclamation.

Sure. Whereas the Everglades is a globally significant ecosystem that sustains South Florida's water supply, protects coastal communities, and supports the health and vitality of the St. Lucie River, the Indian River Lagoon, and Florida Bay. While the city of Stewart's economy, quality of life, and environmental heritage depends upon clean and healthy waterways, that support tourism, recreation, local businesses, and property values, and whereas harmful discharges from Lake Okeechobee, including those associated with the lost summer of 2013 and the blue-green algae crisis of 2016, caused significant ecological, public health, and economic impacts throughout the St. Lucie estuary and surrounding communities. And whereas on August 9, 2016, then incoming Florida Senate President Joe Negron stood in downtown Stewart and called for the construction of a reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee, galvanizing a broad coalition of residents, businesses, chambers of commerce, real estate professionals, environmental organizations, and local governments, and helping lead to the passage of Senate Bill 10 in 2017. which established the policy direction and funding framework to advance the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir. and the everglades agricultural area reservoir is one of the most significant everglades restoration projects in florida's history designed to store excess lake water reduced harmful discharges to the st lucie and calusa hatchie estuaries and send more clean fresh water south to the everglades and florida bay and its continued advance advancement reflects the power of civic engagement Regional cooperation in a shared commitment to protecting Florida's natural resources for future generations Now therefore I Sean Reed mayor of the city of Stewart do hereby proclaim August 9th 2026 as the 10th anniversary of the Everglades agricultural area reservoir Hey mark, I didn't know if you had any comments Okay

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I grew up here since 1957, seeing a lot of changes. And then I went away to college and worked for Marine and came back in 78. And that's when I joined up with Oceanographic and we started working with the city, with all the county, everybody jurisdictionally around the St. Lucie Estuary, because I knew we had to fix this river and we had to stop those discharges and work on that real hard and 2016 was that exemplary year when we had huge amounts billions of gallons coming from Lake Okeechobee not only with a blue-green algae but tons of phosphorus and nitrogen and total suspended solids that muck that settles out on the bottom of the estuary which we still have to work on to get out But at least we worked hard to try to stop that, and we're successful in getting a new schedule in 24 from the lake. So during normal operation, we will not get discharges, zero discharges to the St. Lucie, which saves billions of gallons from discharging, including the blue-green algae that now is present in Lake Okeechobee is not gonna come our way, hopefully. But a year prior to that, in 2015, the city, along with us and others, were working hard on it. The governor had declared at the time, 2016, as an emergency order, But back in 2015, the city of Stewart was passing resolution here to buy this land and get the reservoir started south of the lake in order to do that. So your resolution back in February 9 of 2015, along with Florida Oceanographic and other organizations, was really doing it. but it was at August 9th in 2016 when then Senator Negron came over here to the Flagler Center and showed this map and he said you know in the Everglades Ag area south of the lake we need acreage of land in order to make this reservoir happen and he was instrumental in getting that initiative going right here in Stewart and then of course passed Senate Bill 10 which was the following legislative session and Senate Bill 10 authorized and inaugurated and got that Everglades Reservoir project started it's fast-tracked now for completion on the IDS schedule it was supposed to be in 2034 now it's fast-tracked to 2029 so we're excited about getting that fast-tracked but I want to tell you City Steward is stepping up the plate here and they recognize the significance of getting this water going south and I'm sure all the cities and municipalities southeast Florida really appreciate it because that water needs to go south to recharge the Everglades and rehydrate the Biscayne Aquifer so they can have drinking water for their future but we appreciate not having those discharges come here and you have done an exemplary job as a city to to recognize the importance of that thank you

All right, moving on to service awards. The first recipient we have is John Martin for 20 years of service for Stewart Police Department.

20 years. Congrats.

Sergeant Martin works he's assigned as a night shift supervisor 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. he could tell you in his own words but he's been here with the city for 20 years

Yes, thank you so much. Wasn't expecting this. Yes, I've been a part of the city of Stewart for 20 years. I'm an import. My wife brought me down after we exited the military, Navy. And it's been an honor and a privilege to be a part of the city for as long as I have been and look forward to many more years left. So thank you all so much.

Thank you. Thank you.

The next service award that we have is for Walter Hayden with 10 years of service for Public Works.

Thank you, Walter.

Come on, don't be nervous, Walter. I ain't good at speeches.

I want to say thank you to Roz and Milton for taking the chance on me. And thank y'all, everybody. I love what I do. Thank you, Walter. Hopefully another 10 more.

The next service award that we have is Christopher Gufrida with 10 years of service for Public Works. He's not in attendance, but I still wanted to read his service award. So we can give him a round of applause. The next service award we have for the recipient, James Hall, is 10 years of service for the Police Department.

Missy, can you take his church and his mother? Come on, Beverly, come on up. Come on up.

Do they want to?

Church? Come on up. They're not coming?

Yeah, everybody, come on up. It's a party.

Will the church say amen? Family? My wife.

I was not expecting to talk, but thank you. Thank you to my wife, my kids, my aunts, my dad, my mom for coming out. Spent 10 years with my FAS, started off as code enforcement back in 2016. I am the grandson of Sergeant James Hall that started with Stewart PD. So that was one reason I did not want to go into law enforcement. Tried to run from it as much as I could, but God always has a different plan. So I appreciate this and look forward to more years.

Thank you.

The next service award that we have is Paul Sandstrom for five years of service for technology services.

Well, he does stop all those tech storms that we get. Thank you.

Come over to the side, Paul.

So I don't know how many people here actually knew me before I started in IT but I've actually been with the city for nine years five years officially in full time with IT and I think Jim Kowalski might be one of the few and he's actually probably the main reason why I'm still here because I did try probably about seven years ago I did try to depart and go somewhere else and when he found out about that I remember he gave me a call and In not so many words, he said no. And that was probably the best thing that probably could have ever happened to me. I'm extremely blessed and thankful to be able to work here and to be a part of this. Being able to get to see what it takes just for water to come out. When you do the Water Worth It tour, I never thought about that. That's incredible. All the things it takes for police and fire to work. I'm very blessed to be in a department that gets to touch every other department in the city and really see what they do. And it's a shame that not everybody gets to see it, because there's about 250, 275 of us that day in, day out are working and keeps the lights on. And nobody knows the wiser, and that's how we want it to be. We don't want to be in the way. And I was crunching some numbers, because that's kind of what I like to do. I've spent 31% of my life here. I'm 29 years old. I started about when I was 20. and I've spent eighty two percent of my adult life here and that's that's pretty incredible we've had four hundred and fifty three employees since I've been here which was shocking because I'm you know no candle to the mighty Milton of seventy five years of working for the city but it never felt like a single day I've had to go to work or I've had to clock in I'm often told to go home because I'm here too late, but it's an extreme blessing to be able to work here, and I can't express my gratitude to those that I get to work with. My boss, Darren, Darren Duke, he's made it an absolute joy to be here. It was a couple years ago I think I described it. You guys are suckers for paying me, man. It's great. I love being here. Every day is a day I get to play and have fun. How much is the deal for? Thank you. But everything's just so great. It's every place. I think a few people have said this in the past. Everywhere you go, they say we're a family here. And I don't know if there's a lot of places that means that, and it's true more than here. So thank you.

Thank you.

Moving on, yeah, we're in budget shop workshop number one. We just finished, Paul. Comments by city commissioners. Commissioner Rich.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. To the delight of many parents, today is the first day of school. Our children are back attending classes. I'm sure many of you have heard, not only from some members of our volunteer boards, but from parents and neighbors, the safety of children going to and from school is paramount. This is a process that's taken a very long time. In one particular instance, because they've opened the back gate to JD Parker, it's been exacerbated. So I just hope we can really move forward with some of these projects to make it safer for these kids. Every parent dropping off or picking up is late, and we just know it's just crazy how fast some of these cars can go. We will be considering an automated system, which I'm confident will generate a great deal of controversy. But let's find a solution and let's move forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Rich. Commissioner Giobbe?

At the end of July, I was privileged to attend the milestone event at the Indian River Lagoon Restoration Project. You read about it, but you have to see it in person. It was phenomenal to see that amount of property that will be basically flooded at some point and clearing waters to go south, which is what the goal is rather than sending it east and west. And then we went on last week at a luncheon to honor Senator Negron, who was instrumental in having a lot of this go forward. And I also want to thank our environmental attorney. who has been so instrumental in pushing us forward in many, many ways to make this process even better. Thank you, Ruth, and thank you everyone, as always, for being here. I really appreciate it. For those of you here and those who are online, it's really important to be involved in your community. And as you know, early voting has started, so it's really important to get out there and vote. Thank you.

Thanks, Commissioner Jobe. Commissioner Clark?

Thank you so much. I just wanted to follow up on a comment that I made when we gave the award to the Daughters of American Revolution. So Constitution Day is coming up. There's Constitution Week. We have Constitution Day. And the legal community does a lot for Constitution Day. And I think about I don't know, 10, 11 years ago, I started the reading of the, maybe, I don't know, I can't figure out when it was. We started the reading of the Constitution, and I know that Jessica Thorpe in our Community Services Department, She's kind of taken over the mantle. I used to organize it and do everything. I think this year we're gonna be that the Blake Library are here at City Hall. I think it's a Blake Library. Well, you'll be seeing more of that. We do send out those weekly notices from the Community Services Department, Stewart Weekly News. But Constitution Week is so important as well as Constitution Day. And if anybody wants individually or as an organization to read one of the articles in the Constitution, please get in touch with Jessica Tharp. And we'll be doing that, I say, between 3 and 5.30 p.m. on the evening, I think, sometime in September, maybe the 20th or something of September at the Blake Library.

Thank you, Commissioner Clark. I want to get a consensus from the board on our discussion item for Haney Creek to allow public comment.

I always am for the public. They're here. They've spent their day working. They come here. They should always be able to have public comment on anything we present. Thank you.

All right, Commissioner Rich. Sure. Commissioner Clark? Objection. Perfect. I also wanted to let the public know I'm going to be hosting a town hall. It's this Wednesday at City Hall from 4.30 to 7.30 that evening. And that concludes my comments. Comments by City Manager.

Thank you, Mayor. I want to thank the commission and members of the public. At 3 PM this afternoon, there was the first budget workshop to work on the fiscal year 2027 budget. You could probably watch that meeting online. Also, remind everyone that budget is online. Our presentation is online. So please review it if you have any suggestions or comments on the budget. please forward them to us so that we can answer your questions or take those comments into consideration and that we can inform the Commission better as we receive more information. It's a work in progress, but it's currently a balanced budget presentation and so we were happy to present that to the Commission this afternoon and want to have your input, so please take a look at that. Also, mayor and commissioners, I studied meteorology, oceanography, hydrology, and geology at the undergraduate and graduate level. Of course, the Navy took me in a different direction throughout the course of my career, and then I'm here, and I'm so happy to be here because of the things like were presented earlier today at the commission meeting, the proclamation. What I have learned in the past few months, it's just more than 100 days for whoever's counting, is that this community is extremely concerned. The river is everything and I want to reiterate or remind everybody, the environmental attorney is on the job. It's probably one of the best parts of my day if Ruth Holmes and I interact because of the importance of what we're doing and what she's doing and what this commission and city is dedicated to. And I am so happy to be a part of that. So thank you, Mayor. That's all I have.

Thank you. Can I get a motion for approval of the agenda?

Move approval of the agenda as published. I'll second the motion.

We have a motion by Commissioner Clark to approve the agenda and seconded by Commissioner Jovi. Are there any public comments on this motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Motion passes unanimously. Moving on to comments from the public on non-agenda related items. You have three minutes. You'll notice we also moved the lighted system here so you can see it. You get three minutes. When it gets to the yellow icon, you have 30 seconds left, OK?

I have John Sunderman.

Welcome, John.

Thank you, Commissioners. My name is John Sunderman. I live at 605 Southwest Channel Avenue. I've been a resident for 19 years, and my property is located on Fraser Creek between Colorado and US 1. I am asking the City of Stewart to take an active role in evaluating the current condition of Fraser Creek, identifying the cause of its decline, and pursuing a practical restoration plan. It is my understanding that Fraser Creek is owned and maintained by the City of Stewart. I also understand that many years ago the creek was a natural, meandering waterway and that as the surrounding area was developed, it was excavated into the channel we see today. Over nearly two decades, I have witnessed a steady environmental decline in the creek's condition. One of the most serious concerns is the depth and condition of the muck that is accumulated in the creek. If a person waves in the creek, they will sink deeply into the muck and you may need to hold onto something to pull free or else you're stuck. The extent of this accumulation raises serious environmental and potential public health concerns and should be evaluated by a qualified professional. The creek also appears becoming shallower. When I moved into my home, mangroves extended approximately eight feet from the bank. Today they extend approximately 25 feet into the creek and in some areas they reach nearly halfway across the channel. Because mangroves typically establish in shallower water, three feet or less, this expansion suggests that sediment buildup may be changing the creek's depth and flow. The change is also visible in the wildlife and public use of the creek. There was a time when tarpons, snook, and manatees were commonly seen in Fraser Creek. The water is often murky and appears to move very little, even though the creek is tidal. I see far fewer kayakers and boaters using the creek than in the past, likely because of its current condition. Fraser Creek is located in the middle of our beautiful city, and if no steps are taken, we risk losing the creek as a usable and healthy natural resource. I respectfully urge the City to assess the creek's sediment, water quality, tidal flow, ecological conditions, and maintenance needs. I also ask the City to identify and pursue available funding opportunities, including potential grants through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection or other environmental restoration programs. Finally, with the new motel development occurring along Fraser Creek, I hope you all keep an eye on that, that these motels do not further harm Fraser Creek. I appreciate your attention to this issue, and I respectfully ask the commission to begin the process of evaluating and restoring Fraser Creek before the damage becomes more difficult and costly to address. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, John.

Next, I have Gwendolyn Hall-Brinkley.

Thank you.

Good evening Mayor and Commissioners. My name is Gwendolyn Hall Brinkley and I am Secretary of Heritage and Opportunity Alliance. I am here tonight to place an important historic preservation issue concerning East Stewart into the public record. East Stewart is currently completing the National Registry of Historic Places process. As we have worked through the process, we have learned something important about the difference between National Registry recognition and local protection. We have been advised by Florida's Division of Historical Resources that the City of Stewart is not presently a certified local government, or CLG, under the Federal State Historic Preservation Program. The National Registry recognizes historically significant places But national registry listings by itself does not create the comprehensive local preservation system that many residents may assume it does. Florida's certified local government program provides a framework through which municipalities adopt a qualifying historic preservation ordinance, establish a qualified preservation commission, receive state and federal technical assistance, participate formally in preservation activities, and become eligible for preservation funding opportunities. This is particularly important for East Stewart. We are documenting a community that historically contained black businesses, churches, Stewart Training School, cultural institutions, civil rights activity, historic homes, and generations of families who built this neighborhood. Recognition of that history is important, but recognition alone without a long-term local preservation strategy leaves an important question unanswered. What happens to those resources after national registered destination? Heritage and Opportunity Alliance is therefore respectfully asking the city commissioners to direct staff to investigate the feasibility requirements, costs, benefits, and process for the city of Stewart to become a certified local government. We're not asking the commissioner tonight to impose restriction on property owners. We're asking for a professional evaluation of whether stewards should establish a preservation program that protects property rights. May I please finish?

Three minutes, ma'am, I'm sorry.

Candace Callahan.

Just give me one second. So I wanted to address John's comment first, and then I'll move on to Ms. Hall. So I've been here for two years, and we've talked about Fraser Creek, Poppleton Creek. I believe there might have been a grant that our environmental attorney applied for, but that didn't go anywhere, correct? So we've been talking about this for two years. I don't know how many years prior they've talked about it from the dais, but not much has happened, if anything, and if anything, it's getting worse. I took my boat out this weekend through Kruger Creek. I had mentioned in the past couple maybe weeks where I mentioned to the city attorney where a neighbor had mentioned they can't navigate through there as well, and it was true. You can barely fit a boat through Kruger Creek navigating under the at Krueger Bridge, so I think maybe more initiative needs done from the city, in my opinion, to address these issues. If it's a tidal flow issue, if it's trimming of the mangroves, but it just further deteriorates for these homeowners. So if it's something that the city can further look into to address these comments, I think it'd be great to get something moving so I can say I accomplished something at least in four years of being here. And then moving on to Ms. Hall's comment as well, if the city could look into that and just the backstory on why it was initiated, what the pros and the cons are and the benefits are, and follow up with Ms. Hall on her comments as well. That's all I have to say. Thanks.

Candace Callahan.

Welcome, Candace.

Hi.

Candice Callahan, for the record, Executive Director of Stewart Main Street. I have a lot of good news to share. So recently we were proud to help the city receive the designation for the historic downtown, putting the district on the National Registry of Historic Places right alongside our friends in East Stewart, so congratulations to them as well. This allows us, not just Main Street, but the city for better positioning when we go after national and federal grants. For projects within the districts we have applied as a follow-up to that We have gone ahead and applied for the official historic marker for the district hoping to have an answer soon on that We have also been awarded Recently a $50,000 grant to help further protect our downtown charm by helping the city of Stewart develop design guidelines that'll come before you for approval and all of that and with Jody's department and but this is just getting the ball rolling we have applied again for the state's small matching categories to help enhance and develop a user-friendly walking art and history tour for the district a few weeks ago we received recognition from the secretary of state's office awarding us in four categories among 70 other main street programs across the state we won awards in the category of volunteer of the year business of the year board member of the year and telling main street story and that's where our Saving Stuart event was recognized for that event or that category. We applied for the Great American Main Street Award and awaiting their decision this week. We are long overdue for this almost 40 years of proven transformation, national recognition, and tourism attraction, but most importantly, our resilient public-private partnerships with you fine folks, the city of Stuart. We will begin work on our art mural project for Flagler Park in the middle of next month. Thank you again for your support on that initiative. And I will remind the public that this is the slowest season for our downtown. August and September are not easy for these business owners as Cost of goods are rising, and the cost of business overall is rising. So I'm asking you to support the downtown. If we start losing our charm, if we start losing our small businesses, we will start losing our charm in our downtown. We're happy to continue hosting weekly and monthly events like Market on Main, Rockin' Riverwalk, and our Summer Car Show series. to help boost foot traffic, but it does take all of us. We appreciate your continued support and partnership. And to follow up on Ms. Hall's comment, we have had discussions before about the CLG and the steps that we're all taking as Main Street and the CRA are helping to get us to that point. So I'm happy to follow up with that if needed and offer our support, because we would like to see that as well. And again, thank you for your service no matter what happens next week.

we really appreciate you and your service thank you just a couple quick things one who cuts the grass in the city of Stewart for city property is it a subcontractor Because I saw a gentleman cutting the grass over at the police station. They weren't wearing any city uniforms. So is the subcontracted out? i think that if it is i think that's something that everybody should look at and see if we can save some money there and bring in we have a parks department we have all these different departments can't get a couple of moments for them to cut the property that's one thing the other thing is city of stewart fire department okay um i believe that three firemen are requested uh for the budget this year uh three The real number should be five, but if we could get three, I think it would be better. Now, a lot of people push back about the fire department. They say, oh, the fire department, they sit on couches and beautiful TVs and this. But who are they calling when they have a heart attack or a stroke or they have a bad laceration? They break their hip. Call the fire department. I deal with people all the time and I constantly butt heads with them and I say, why don't you call animal control? Don't call the fire department. If you want to complain about them, don't call. But I really believe that commissioners, mayor, city manager, everybody should really put into serious consideration on getting these three new hires and in the future maybe even bumping up, maybe in a future budget, maybe another two because they need it i mean growth is growing here we all know that you have what 19 000 plus people here and how many firemen you have on on per shift per per house and uh the other thing is i saw the blue lights on their trucks i think they look fantastic and you can see them a mile away so that was a great thing i hope they're happy about it but please take it to consideration at least passing the budget on three more firemen for them because i think they need it also i want to thank you personally and you for coming out to the property and walking with our wonderful ruth over here uh to see our disaster not just fraser creek along poplar creek and the one that you just mentioned thank you very much

Thank you. Thank you for your input.

Thanks, Dave. And as far as the fire department, we had our first budget workshop. Last fiscal year, they got three. This year, the chief's asking for three more. His comments were he was trying to be fiscally conservative towards the taxpayers and eventually hopefully get there and stuff if we're doing three a year until we achieve the life safety and the level of service that he expects for the residents. So thanks for your comments, Dave.

I have no further public comments.

Thank you, Mary. Can I get a motion for approval of the consent calendar? Is this in regards to the, did you have a comment? Okay.

Move approval of the consent. Yes, I did, I'm sorry. Okay.

Yeah, I wanted to remove those two items from the consent calendar. Six and seven? Yes, and put them into the normal agenda.

Did you want them before Coffee Rush or after?

They could go before Coffee Rush. It's just that I'd like – I'm not a big fan of the consent calendar because it doesn't give the residents a chance to look and hear what these items are that we're approving. Okay. So I like to move them down. So, yeah, they could go before Coffee Rush. I don't think they're going to be long, but, again, I'd just like them to hear what these resolutions are. Thank you.

I move approval of the consent agenda for item number five and pull in item number six and seven and having those items heard before the regular action items. And I will second that.

Thank you, Commissioner Clark.

Okay, so we have a motion for approval of the consent calendar, polling agenda items six and seven for discussion purposes by Commissioner Clark and seconded by Commissioner Giobbe. Is there any public comment on this motion? Seeing no public comment, Mary, if you could do the roll call.

Commissioner Giobbe? Yes. Commissioner Rich? Yes. Commissioner Clark? Yes. Mayor Reed?

Yes, motion passes unanimously. Moving on to ordinance second reading regarding coffee rush at Cornerstone Publix at Baker Road, CP, or, oh, sorry, sorry.

Cybersecurity.

Yep, so we're gonna.

Mayor, excuse me, can we do the consent items number six and seven?

Yes, yeah, yeah, I messed up. So moving on for agenda item six, the cybersecurity grant program.

Resolution number 55-2026, a resolution of the City Commission of the City of Stuart, Florida authorizing submittal of a Florida Department of Management Services, Florida Digital Services Cybersecurity Program grant to continue enhancing and supporting the city's cybersecurity framework to mitigate risk and to protect infrastructure, authorizing execution of a grant agreement, if awarded, providing an effective date and for other purposes.

Commissioner Giobbe, your light's on.

Yes, I just wanted to ask if, Darren, this is your department, I believe, if you could just say a few words about this grant, thank you.

I actually can't.

Yes.

It's exempted from public records request. So we can talk about it, but I have to talk about it in shade.

Ah, okay.

If you guys want to do that, we can.

I got a question for you. Were you allowed to talk about the dollar amount that we've been awarded?

In previous years, I can talk about that. Historically, it's somewhere in the region of $120,000 to $170,000 in products. They call it capabilities. But it's software that the state grants us for use of a 12-month period. And this will be the fourth year we've participated in this grant. And I will say, you know, the state has actually came through on this. It's a very good program. It's leveled us up quite substantially on our footprint of what we can do. But it's, you know, on average it's about $130,000 a year is what we're getting.

So we've been awarded it every year since we've started applying? So far.

This year is interesting because in the actual... law because they rewrite it every year this year they've actually stipulated that it has to target or they should target priority wise rural counties and municipalities and we are not that so this is the first year we might not get fully across the finish line like we have but you know fingers crossed if you know a lot of people don't put in we we might be okay but this is the first year we've kind of stipulated some rules where we might actually just fall off the edge of it

Okay, no way we can piggyback against some other entity to put in for this.

No, it would have to be, it's actually written in the law about what a rural municipality is. It's really a rural county. And the municipality has to be in a rural county or next to a rural county or two. And based on my looking, it doesn't seem like we qualify fully. But, you know, who knows? Touch wood, we put in for it. We get it or we don't. If we get it, yes. And if not, I still want to thank the state because it's been a fantastic program.

Great. Thank you. And I just wanted everyone in the community to understand what this was. And I had forgotten that we couldn't really talk about all of it. But just the language that you've given us and a little bit of history is great. Thank you. I really appreciate it. Perfect.

I have a question, Darren. Does the city apply on behalf of itself or does it go to a grant writer?

Uh, this one ourselves, because it's a zero cost grant, we get capabilities from the state. So we're not putting they're not giving us money and we're not putting money in.

And now, if you're awarded this grant, your department will that show up in our budget? Okay. It just won't be line itemed out, obviously, right? Or I don't believe it's just for the government itself.

So it would be in there, I would presume, as a line item of budget. Okay. Because usually towards the end of a budget year, they tell us what the cost was. And then we send that to finance, and I, whatever finance do, they do. Okay.

All right, that's all I have. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. All right, so we're looking for a motion then for agenda item six.

I'll make a motion to approve Resolution 55-2026 for the City Commission of the City of Stewart to authorize submittal of this Florida Department of Management Services grant for cybersecurity. Second.

So we have a motion by Commissioner Giobbi and seconded by Commissioner Clark for Resolution Number 55-2026, Agenda Item 6. Are there any public comments on this motion? Seeing none, Mary, if you could do the roll call.

Mayor Reed? Yes. Commissioner Giobbe? Yes. Commissioner Clark? Yes. Commissioner Ritz?

Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Moving on to agenda item number seven, letter to Environmental Protection Agency. Lee, if you could read the resolution.

resolution number 57-2026 a resolution of the city commission of the city of stuart florida authorizing the city's co-signing on a letter requesting the united states environmental protection agency evaluate whether the state's decision to decline adoption of water quality criteria for cyanotoxins complies with the triennial review process under 40 Code of Federal Regulations, Section 131.20, Subsection A, and requirements of the Clean Water Act, providing for an effective date and for other purposes.

You had questions, Commissioner Giobbi?

I don't have a question, but I just wanted the public to know that this is one of those areas where our environmental attorney was very instrumental in us having this, and certainly the commission hopefully will vote to sign it. Thank you. So I'd like to make a motion for Resolution 57-2026, resolution that the City Commission of the City of Stuart, Florida, authorize the city's co-signing on a letter requesting the US Environmental Protection Agency, a value whether the state's decision to decline an adoption of water quality criteria for Sinotoxic complies with the triennial review process under the 40 CFR.

Do we have a second? Second.

She had seconds. All right, so we have a motion to approve resolution number 57-2026 by Commissioner Giobbe and seconded by Commissioner Clark. Are there any public comments on this motion? I have a question, Ruth. So this letter is being sent to the EPA to get their understanding of, I'm assuming the state changed something, correct?

No and that's the issue that where you want to make sure that is brought to the EPA's attention so what the EPA does under the Clean Water Act is after so many years an evolution of science and knowledge and discovery of different contaminants in our surface waters they look and see if there's a need for guidance to the states to adopt or change water quality standards. When Mark Perry was here earlier this afternoon, he was talking about the blue-green algae in 2013, 2016. People don't mention 2018, but 2018 was another bad year. And one of the things that releases from the blue-green algae is a toxin that, depending on the type of toxin, can be very harmful not just to marine life, but it can be very harmful to human health. and you know, of course we all heard in the 2018 time period when There were veterinarians that were reporting on different instances of pets being harmed by Getting getting in the blue-green algae filled water or eating the fish or things like that and so what the EPA did As they issued guidance, they issued a recommendation to the states about certain cyanotoxin standards that should be adopted in the states. And the state of Florida, where we have increasing temperatures and the water's getting hotter and hotter, blue-green algae outbreaks are happening more frequently they declined to adopt those standards they didn't have to adopt them and they declined to do so and instead and I

When you say they, the DEP declined.

Right, the state of Florida.

So that would be their board, I guess, who's made up on the DEP board that would decline it?

Well, the DEP doesn't have its own board, but they do have various... Is it done publicly or behind closed doors? Okay. I don't know if you can really characterize it like that. They do have committees and extremely knowledgeable people in this area. And they decided, for whatever reason, that the cyanotoxin did not need a standalone water quality criteria or standard.

Well like I just got an email today at 417 from the Department of Health talking about blue-green algae right and it says residents and visitors are are advised to take the following precautions. Do not drink, swim, wade, use personal watercrafts, or come into contact with waters where there is visible bloom. Wash your skin, keep pets and livestock away, do not cook or clean dishes with water contaminated, eating filets, do not eat shellfish. I can go on and on and on. It's just, it's crazy for the city residents to even have to deal with this.

Well, the state believes that chlorophyll A can be a sufficient indicator of the existence of toxins in the surface waters and in the river and the estuary. So what we're asking the EPA to do is take a second look at that. And is that sufficient? And maybe the folks at EPA think it's sufficient, but at least we're asking the questions. Because the Department of Health never stops to source what's going on. They send out these notifications every single month or every couple of weeks, depending on location, and they all say the same thing. And nobody says, where is it coming from? but one of the things one of the reasons why the city of Stuart is so geographically smart to be even considering a letter like this and everything that's doing is because if in fact if in fact the discharges disposal of Lake Okeechobee water for drainage into the river and estuary contains microcystin and cyanotoxins, of which there's a water quality standard, then you have a clear, I should say, arguably, you could have a violation of water quality standards by those discharges. by the disposal of water well if standards were ever adopted for that so there would be a very very strong case that there should be no discharges if there's ever any indication of blue-green algae in the water So it's, you know, the letter in and of itself, it may go to the same place the petition for rulemaking went, in somebody's inbox. Or somebody could take a hard look at it. But it's not insignificant because it's a big, big issue. It's a big issue politically. So...

Have there been any letters that we've authorized where you have not gotten a response back on any of them?

Where I have not gotten a response back? I would say every single one.

So every letter we send out, we don't get a response back?

They're not required to, I think that's the problem.

Now, I will say this. The letters that we have sent to the Army Corps of Engineers have been pursuant to public comment periods that they've notified the public. You know, you have 30 days to write us a letter or to comment on some activity that they're doing. And, you know, when I say there's been no response back, they're not required to give us a response, but it's all part of the administrative record. So that going forward the city is the city is known to have stated its position on those activities and so You know as long as our letters have become part of the administrative record if there's ever a challenge in the future They will always be there

I have one more question for you. Do you think there would be any benefit if it was sent to local elected officials, state and federal elected officials, as well as the EPA department? I mean, should we be sending it to everybody at this point? Because our elected officials set policy for this stuff if they're just ignoring us.

I would say that that could be a conversation that we should definitely have maybe with the city attorney and the city manager and then maybe each of you we can talk about that about who it should be sent to

Okay, I just I think it would benefit us more maybe if we're sending it to state elected officials and federal elected officials They have more jurisdiction than we do at the City of Stuart because they oversee the EPA We don't But I guess we can have those meetings Commissioner Jobe your light was on.

Yes. I just wanted to say that the letter is important because 10 years ago, if Senator Negron had not pushed forward and pushed ahead, there would be nothing done today for the Everglades. So the reality is we're at least pushing forward. We're stating what we want, and we're consistent. We send out lots of letters. Eventually, someone is going to listen to those. And collectively, they are on file, and people can see that they're there. So thank you, Ruth. I really appreciate it.

Thank you. Thanks, Ruth, for everything. All right. Any more comments from commissioners? Mary, if you could do the roll call.

Commissioner Clark? Yes. Commissioner Giobbe? Yes. Commissioner Rich?

Yes.

Mayor Reed?

Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Moving on to ordinance second reading, Coffee Rush at Cornerstone Publix at Baker Road, CPD amendment, and it is quasi-judicial, so please make sure you pull out your yellow cards. Lee, if you could read it.

Ordinance number 2555-2026, an ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Stewart, Florida, for a major amendment to phase three of the Publix at Baker Road Commercial Plan Unit development. Providing for an amendment to the master site plan for phase three of the public's at Baker Road CPUD to accommodate a 635 square foot coffee rush. at Cornerstone Center Convenience Restaurant with two drive-through facilities and outdoor seating area, providing for amended development conditions, a timetable for development, and master site plan approval for a parcel of land located at 1501 Northwest Federal Highway. being more fully described in the attached Exhibit A, providing for conflict, providing for severability, providing for ineffective date, and for other purposes.

Is the applicant here, Jody?

Mayor, no, the applicant is not here yet. So I was wondering if

Do you want us to, do they plan on coming?

I did speak to the applicant and with Publix this morning, and they were planning on attending, because there were some questions that you had asked at the last meeting that the applicant was going to respond to. If it's possible, could we postpone until the applicant gets here and move on to the?

Yeah, we'll move on.

Haney Creek.

Is there anything I have to do from my position then, Lee?

Just at least get a consensus or a motion to swap, I guess, agenda items eight and nine.

I agree. I think we should just move it until the applicant comes and we can go to the discussion. Oh, we need a motion. I'll make a motion that we move the agenda item number eight to after the Haney Creek discussion and deliberation. So it'll be after number nine.

Do we have a second?

Second. And can we have a break?

Yes. We have a motion by Commissioner Giobbi to move agenda item eight and move it after agenda item nine and seconded by Commissioner Clark. Are there any public comments on this motion? Seeing none, Mary, could you do the roll call?

Mayor Reed? Yes. Commissioner Rich?

Yes.

Commissioner Jobe? Yes. Commissioner Clark? Yes.

Motion passes unanimously. We're also going to take a break. Commissioner Clark, where would you like me to set the time? 5.30 or 5.35? 5.30. Five minutes? Okay, so we'll reconvene at 5.30. We're going to take a break. We're going to reconvene the regular city commission meeting at 5.34 PM. There's been some discussion if we're going to swap the coffee rush and Haney Creek referendum agenda items again. So I'm just here to listen to my fellow board members on what they want.

I think it's your decision, Mr. Mayor.

I don't have a problem either way. I think when we are constantly going back and forth, we're twisting people up, not only in the public.

If the deliberations are going to go on, I think that the people who are here with engineers and developers, they need to be first.

I would agree with it because they're paying them.

All right, so we're looking for a motion then. to swap agenda item eight and nine. I would make a motion that we go back to the agenda as published. You'll speak into the microphone as well, please.

I would like to make a motion we go back to the agenda as published. Next, we take agenda item eight next.

Okay, do we have a second? Second. Is that clear, Lee?

Yeah, that's fine.

Are the applicants ready if we swap this agenda item? I'm just looking for a nod or, okay.

All right, so we...

One problem, we don't have Jody, so.

Okay, I'll still, I'll recall the motion, like restate it. I'll restate it, yeah.

Okay. We've got to wait for Jody. All right. All right.

Just flying down here.

I'll go ahead and read the agenda item again. ORDINANCE NUMBER 2555-2026, AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF STEWART, FLORIDA, FOR A MAJOR AMENDMENT TO PHASE THREE OF THE PUBLIC'S AT BAKER ROAD COMMERCIAL PLAN UNIT DEVELOPMENT, ALSO KNOWN AS CPUD, PROVIDING FOR AN AMENDMENT TO THE MASTER SITE PLAN FOR PHASE THREE OF THE PUBLIC'S AT BAKER ROAD CPUD TO ACCOMMODATE A 635 SQUARE FOOT COFFEE RUSH at Cornerstone Center Convenience Restaurant with two drive-through facilities and an outdoor seating area, providing for amended development conditions, a timetable for development, and master site plan approval for a parcel of land located at 1501 Northwest Federal Highway. being more fully described in attached exhibit A, providing for conflict, providing for severability, providing for an effective date, and for other purposes.

Hey, Lee, I have to just, there was a motion to swap.

It was a motion. I was just about to do a point of order.

Oh, I thought you wanted to.

Sorry. So there's a motion from Commissioner Rich and seconded by Commissioner Clark to swap agenda item eight back before agenda item nine. Are there any public comments on this motion? Seeing none, Mary, are you able to do the roll call?

Sure, Commissioner Rich?

Yes.

Commissioner Clark? Yes. Mayor Reed?

Yes.

Commissioner Giobbe?

Yes. Motion passes unanimously. So now we're moving on to agenda item eight, the coffee rush at Cornerstone Public's Baker Road CPD amendment. And just a reminder to the commissioners, if you could pull out your yellow card. Lee, is this where you have to read the agenda item back into the record? Because it's quasi-judicial, probably.

Just to be safe, I'll read it again. Sorry, Lee. Ordinance number 2555-2026, an ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Stewart, Florida, for a major amendment to phase three of the Publix at Baker Road Commercial Plan Unit Development, also known as CPUD, providing for an amendment to the master site plan for phase three of the Publix at Baker Road CPUD, to accommodate a 635 square foot coffee rush at Cornerstone Center Convenience Restaurant with two drive-through facilities and outdoor seating area, providing for an amended development conditions, a timetable for development, and master site plan approval for a parcel of land located at 1501 Northwest Federal Highway, being more fully described in the attached exhibit A, providing for conflict, providing for severability, providing for an effective date, and for other purposes.

Thank you, Lee. Do the commissioners have any ex parte communications to disclose? Commissioner Rich?

I do not.

Commissioner Giobbe? I do not. Commissioner Clark?

I have none. I'm here with an open mind.

I'm going to say that just for the record, I probably got some emails. I can't recall any specifically. And I had the similar comments at the first ordinance reading. Just this time, I did post it on Facebook again, but comments are turned off. So if we get any comments up here, it'll come as a board as a whole. So then you guys wouldn't have to go look for Facebook comments out of respect to you guys. if you could place any potential witnesses under oath.

Will all potential witnesses for the applicant and city staff please stand, raise your right hand, and be sworn in? Do you affirm that the testimony that you are about to provide in this hearing will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? So help you God.

I do.

All right, you may be seated. And I'd like to give a little spiel like I normally do on the quasi-judicial hearings. In a quasi-judicial hearing, the city commission steps out of its legislative or administrative role and into a judicial capacity. The City Commission will be making a determination by applying existing laws, ordinances, and regulations to the facts presented to the Board. Everything needs to be officially entered into the record and testimony needs to be under oath. The Commissioners are also required to disclose any ex parte communications that have occurred prior to this hearing, which they have.

Thanks, Lee. Now, will the Development Department please provide a brief summary of the agenda item, including the location, size of the property, current zoning, zoning requested, and list the applicant's request to deviate from the land use development regulations, if any? Thank you, Jody.

Good evening, mayor and commissioners. For the record, my name is Jody Coogler, the development director for the city of Stewart for amendment to the Cornerstone Publix at Baker Road CPD, a petition to develop a coffee rush fast food convenient restaurant with two drive-through lanes, an outdoor seating area within the undeveloped portion of the land, which is known as phase three of the Publix at Baker CPD. The property is located at 1501 Northwest Federal Highway. Pursuant to land development code, public notice requirements outlined within land development code section 11.02.00 on June 22nd, 2026, the applicant mailed notices to all adjacent property owners within 300 feet of the subject parcel to provide details of the requested development and the date and time of tonight's public hearing. Additionally, two signs were posted on the property with the same information. The development department did not receive any letters or emails for proponent or opposition. The 7.79 acre property is located at the northeast corner of Federal Highway and Northwest Baker Road. And the current zoning is a commercial planned unit development. And the existing future land use is commercial. The properties to the north, south, and west are designated as commercial. And a property to the east is designated as multifamily residential. This is the overall area of where the site is located. You can see it was highlighted where the red lines are, and I'll just point to it on my map. Right here where it says the proposed coffee rush. The adjacent use and zoning and future land use to the north, south, east, and west. And this is the overall proposed site plan. The site includes a 635-square-foot building with two drive-through lanes for serving vehicular traffic on each side of the building and a walk-up pedestrian window with an outdoor seating area. The proposed coffee rush building is not a temporary or modular building, but rather a concrete masonry unit, which is the same as previously approved by the Walmart location. And the proposed parking requires one space per employee at the largest shift will be approximately four employees and one space per 100 square feet of service area of 325 square feet is met on site. Depleted on the future phase, which is generally the formal original phase three area within the proposed new eight parking spaces and also a proposed loading zone is located on site. The fire access shows the fire truck access right from Federal Highway. Water and sanitary sewer services connections are already provided to the site and are located at the northeast corner of the Coffee Rush store location. Review and approval of the connections by Martin County is pending per the CPUD utility plan amendment. This just gives you an overall site where the yellow star is. That is the phase three, and this is the last phase of this particular project. The proposed landscape and plan includes five gumbo limbo trees, four daifun holly trees, six crape myrtles, two southern live oaks, and eight sable palms. The plan also proposes the relocation of six existing palmetto trees on site and one existing queen palm. The purpose of the application is to amend the future publics at Baker Road Commercial Plan Unit Development, ordinance number 2104-02, to allow the development of approximately 690 square foot coffee rush drive-through on the remaining undeveloped portion of the 7.79 acres. The proposed development includes a small building with two drive-through lanes, one on each side of the building, and a pedestrian service window at the front entrance to facilitate the proposed development. The applicant is requesting five waivers. The original approval in 2007 included in Phase 3, which was approved for a 3,400 square foot bank building within that footprint. The architectural elements incorporate overhangs, peaked roofs, display windows, pavers, lattice screen walls. The colors have been updated to match the coffee rush approved by the Walmart, which is currently under construction. The signage includes one single face wall sign with LED illuminated channel letters attached to the building. At the July 9th, 2026, the local planning agency unanimously recommended approval of ordinance number 2555-2026 to the city commission subject to the conditions outlined in the ordinance. This also at the first reading, the city commission on July 27th, 26th, the city commission voted unanimously to transmit the ordinance to second reading subject to addressing the following concerns. At this point, if I may introduce the applicant, Mr. Good to come to the podium to address the four concerns. questions that were brought up at the first reading. One is to provide an update regarding the compensation to the property owner for the Florida Department of Transportation for the right-of-way acquisition through an intimate domain. Provide an update to the City Commission regarding the total building footprint, which was updated in your staff report. and provide the previously approved open space percentage. And you also requested staff to look at different PUDs if there was a a request to deviate from the 25% open space. Staff did look at quite a few and was not successful finding any at this time. I know at times that there's been requests for that. I just don't know which PD has requested that. So at this time, I'm going to turn this over to Mr. Good, who's the applicant, to address some of the other questions that were asked during the first reading.

Thank you, Jody. So we'll yield the floor to the petitioner to present its request to the City Commission. Welcome.

Thank you, Mayor. My name is Robert Good, and I'm authorized agent for the applicant and for the property owner. Ron Yost is here with Coffee Rush, and then we have Bobby Stewart with Publix, the property owner for this property. Yeah, so since the last meeting, I wanted to kind of come up with, you know, answer a few of your questions. And if we go back to the original ordinance, which is Ordinance 2104-07, with respect to the right-of-way, that was dedicated, basically it was a requirement prior to issuance of the final CO that there be a total dedication of 57.5 feet of right-of-way from the center line existing Baker Road. shall be dedicated to the county along the property southern boundary of Baker. So there's, when we checked Publix's files, there's been no remuneration. So it was a requirement for it to be dedicated. And so I'm not aware.

As a condition in order to grant the PUD that you would have to give this right away.

Correct, and it had to have occurred prior to the final CO of the property at the time, which has been CO'd for a long time.

What was that resolution number?

That was 2104-07, and that was recorded on December 3rd, 2007. And in that, there's a couple things to make note of in terms of the things that the applicant at that time did in addition to the right-of-way dedication. There was also a contribution of $40,906.75 to the city's tree replacement fund. And that site's very well landscaped today. And so that was an additional compensation to the city. In addition, there was a contribution of $5,000 to the city's Haney Creek watershed at that time. So I just wanted to bring that to Mayor Council just to be aware of those things. I think that addresses that question.

Mayor, the original approved ordinance that he's referring to, Mr. Gooder is referring to, was in your packet.

Okay. Thank you, Jody.

Okay, if there's nothing else with that one, I'll move on to the second one. I think the second one is more of the total property is the intent. The total property was 7.79 acres in the beginning, back in 2007 or so. And with respect to that, the open space was met. And that included having, because the right-of-way was dedicated, the green space that was in that right-of-way It also had included a pervious pavement. And the pervious pavement had posed a challenge thereafter. And it just, since then, it hasn't been cleaned up with an action or an update to development order. But what happened, and Mr. Stewart with Publix could speak to it if needed, you know the customer it was unraveling and it was becoming a really horrible experience to customers and there has not been any flooding that that any of us are aware of at that site in fact it drains rather well um and so it however those four driveways that were pervious that got calculated as a 50 credit to the open space Were paved over as impervious to solve that problem and the customers in the community were a lot happier and I believe there must have been some dialogue because I know Publix is Pretty good in terms of by the book. It's just that the development order never got updated As a result, when we went in with our application, we had to reflect that because that's what is there, and we weren't able to accommodate that credit into the open space. So between not being able to accommodate it as a result of that situation, And we are no longer 7.79 acres. We're actually 7.443 acres. So we're about 0.347 acres less than what we were when we met the open space as a result of the right-of-way dedication. So those two components have led to where we're unable to meet the 25%, and we have asked for a deviation that you see at the 18.5%. And that's really went into the combination of that. And I will say lastly, with respect to this remaining parcel or portion of the site, it's a leased portion, but this remaining portion, which is 0.55 acres, We are providing over 40% open space. So I wanted to point that out. We exceed the 25% on what we have left to do. But there's just no way we can meet it based on now having to reflect the true acreage of the property now, which does not include the right of way that's been dedicated, is the 7.443 acres.

Does that conclude your request to the city commission? And then I can.

I wanted to make sure I've answered those. Do I have any other questions?

You might have one more. Two more.

So the first one was to discuss the compensation, which in this particular case, this was a right of way dedication not taken by intimate domain. Provide an update to the city commission regarding the total footprint, which was corrected in the staff report. Instead of the 490, it's 635 square feet.

Oh, correct. Correct. Plus the property acreage.

Right. And then provide the previously approved open space percentage, which Mr. Good did just explain. And then also to determine if any other, if a deviation from the open space and any other development order and staff was not able to find anything recently.

Do the commissioners have any questions for staff or the applicant?

And I will light on. Has anything changed since?

Commissioner Clark.

Thank you for recognizing me. You're welcome. Has anything changed since?

Commissioner Clark, no. The only thing that was updated probably in your package was the color renditions. They had the old colors in there and we did update your package with the correct colors.

What was changed for the colors?

The requested colors that were done the same as Walmart, next to Walmart, where they're the lighter colors. They're consistent coloring. Consistent with the . Right, and that was changed out for your rendition for this packet.

Commissioner Clark, you flipped your light on again.

Thank you.

Did that conclude your questions? I had one, or go ahead.

I don't have the pattern up. And I guess there's no extreme lighting or any noise or the garbage when it goes back there. Can you pull up the side pan again, please, Jody? Sure. Ms. Coogler, thank you.

Architectural plans.

Yeah, no lighting issues. That's fine. So the lighting has been removed. Yeah.

So as part of the development process, the police department does look at the lighting and the photometrics, which was already approved by the police department.

Yep, yep.

Does that conclude your comments, Commissioner Clark? Yes, thanks. Commissioner Rich, your light's on.

So, you know, 18 is quite a bit less.

If you could just speak into the mic.

18 is quite a bit less than 25. So why is development recommending approval?

Well, a lot of that was taken from the right of way dedication that was required during the first approval. And then also the failing pervious concrete also failed, which gave them the credit toward open space requirements. So the city feels it's reasonable that we could recommend the approval.

I mean, I agree. You know, the sin is not theirs. It's not Coffee Rush's. I went to see their building down south. I mean, these are tiny little buildings. Very attractive. I mean, the sin was... when Publix paved over, I don't know, or whoever owned that plaza without a permit. Isn't that what we're maintaining?

I was not able to locate a permit, and so we were not able to memorialize that. Can we address that? Our system has changed over, so we may not have those records.

And I do know those older... those older pervious pavement um blocks were bad they were really bad they're so much better now so i do sympathize with the owner certainly in light of pushing laden grocery carts around too so OK, I just think it's in. I mean, they have a huge retention pond there. They back up. I don't believe those are on the property, the two little retention ponds. Those are on the next property, correct? But still.

The huge retention pond that is walled in? Yeah. That is their retention pond. That was part of.

But then there's two behind. I think that's the next property. Yes, that's the next property because the main one is. But they're contiguous. Yes. And then the whole thing backs up to 153 acre Haney Creek Preserve, which we're gonna be. So, okay, I just appreciated that clarification. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Rich. And I believe one of the witnesses that are under oath might be able to address that comment as far as. Yeah, I can address the previous statement. Could you just state your name for the record?

Robert Stewart with Public Supermarkets I can address the previous payment back in 2012 the only reason I remember this is I was managing their facilities department down in Miami and we were getting so many complaints from the public and a city was getting complaints too probably none of us were even dealing with this back then and so it was agreed upon to go ahead and put a flowable covering over the existing pervious concrete pavement in just the drive lanes to be able to eliminate the problem with the customers complaining about breaking their eggs and this was this is what went on for several months with this thing it went on for quite a while so finally the city and public say agreed with the developer of the site at that time to go ahead and do that and i believe that was done by company called the Redlands corporation they did the site work back then if I remember correctly that's who was doing it so that's how that came about that's how it all came about but I think we had a meeting a while back and we talked about you know the the storm drainage conditions and stuff, and that retention pond has never even come close to full pull in the last 20 years. So I don't really think it's gonna be an issue.

Yeah, if I had to make the assumption that storm water management plan was probably created for the original site plan, so you probably have more than enough retention. I think the big discussion that at least I've mentioned in the beginning was the open space, right? The whole purpose of a PUD is to have 25% open space, and you're asking for 18%. Now, if they would have had that original impervious, they would meet that requirement then for the PUD, if I'm understanding you correctly, Jody?

I think if they would have had the impervious payment, they would have met most of it. But I think they would almost have that same number. But the concern that they had was when they had the right-of-way dedication taken from the property. So the property was approved first with the PED with the 25%. And then after they did the dedication of the So OK.

So I have a question. So yes.

OK. In 2007 when this got approved in the ordinance it was in there first of all seven point seven nine acres and The credit was allowed because it had not been dedicated But they were this at that time the city had agreed to provide the credit But the dedication was still to happen in the future it was in the as a requirement to be dedicated for the CEO and but the 7.79 acres had included that right of way and the green space that allowed for the open space calculation to meet the 25%. That was all approved. When we submitted this go around, last year we had to say this is what we've got and we no longer it's already been dedicated so we now no longer have 7.79 and we only have 7.443 acres what's uh what's the current legal description on property appraiser or clerk of court for the recorded deed is it set because like in the item report jody it says 7.79 It could be, I'll let you speak to that, but our ALTA survey that we had to update for this process, it's 7.443, so it's been dedicated. I'm not sure if she pulls it up what it will be.

When it was originally annexed into the city in 97, it was 6.62, and then did you guys acquire more property

There had to have been. Because it was 7.79.

Because it goes from 6.62 and then it includes a .68 acre, but then in the item report for the, where did I see it at? I saw it somewhere in here that it's saying 7.79, Jody. I think it says it, it actually says it in the ordinance that's currently being voted on. It says, let's see. And section two on page three, Lee, of the ordinance, it says the legal description of the plus or minus 7.79 acre subject parcel is attached as exhibit A, and then a map showing the subject parcel is attached as exhibit B.

So your property appraiser has it at 7.45. So they rounded up.

They rounded up.

And we can, if the board is inclined, we can work on the final acre size. I can work with the applicant just to determine, to verify with our surveyor and his surveyor. But this was reviewed by our surveyor and also prepared by their surveyor. So I can, if the board is inclined to approve with staff, just verify in the final acre size.

So I'm just confused, like when this was originally adopted then, they had 18% or it got approved and they had 25% and then they gave dedicated right away and then they ended up with 18?

Yes, it's that second scenario. They had the 25%.

So they had the 25, they lost the right away. Right. And then the previous. And then it's 18. Correct.

That happened in 2012. Okay. There are still portions of the parking lot that are pervious. It's just the drive aisle lanes were paved over to the, as Mr. Stewart said.

Yeah. Yeah, just make sure you come to the mic. You're okay. Do any other commissioners have any questions for staff or the applicant? Commissioner Giovi, your light's on.

Yes. There's these, I don't know what they're called, but they do do roadways where they are pervious.

That's what they're talking about.

Okay, so that's the roadway you're putting in.

No, ma'am. The existing drive aisles, there's four drive aisles that are at the shopping center coming in as you drive in off of Federal to the Publix, and you go look for a parking space. I don't know if you can bring that aerial up, but there's four drive aisles, and those were pervious pavement, and when that was done in 2007, It ended up, I guess, lasting about five years, 2012, when the customers were having problems with those drive aisles pushing their buggy.

I'm not going to make you repeat that because I was thinking it was the drive-thrus that you were putting in. No, ma'am.

No, ma'am.

Your drive-thrus will be...

we're we're planning to uh basically the way we have on our plan is regular pavement because of the wearing that you know that will be going on in drive-throughs it will be regular pavement however our 0.55 acres half acre or so over 40 percent more like 42 percent is basically open space we're so small we've got a lot of green space open space so we just can't meet all of it because we need to put the drive-throughs in and we also put a bypass lane on one because we wanted to make sure that as traffic was coming off a baker into this to the center, there wouldn't be any backup. So those drive-throughs, if we didn't do regular pavement, would possibly have future problems. So those are not impervious. Those are regular pavement impervious. But we did and we do meet and exceed the 25% threshold on what we're developing left.

OK. So if you had one, because you have two drive-throughs now.

Yes change that configuration if you only had one it would change the whole concept of coffee rush It would be a completely different Our business model is is such as well as keeping the dry planes the way they are Does that conclude your comments Thank You mayor all right going back to this pervious impervious Jody so back in 2007

They met the 25% requirements. They had the pervious driving lanes. They get rid of the right of way. They go down to 18%, correct?

Well, not at that time. So they had the 25%. They lost a certain portion of the open green space or the open space requirements when they gave up the right-of-way.

And that went from 25?

Further, whenever they paved the drive aisles from pervious to impervious, you only get half the credit. So then they lost that half credit for paving that portions of the drive aisles.

What was the original pervious percentage when it was originally approved in 07?

Well, I don't know the pervious, but the open space was right at 25%. They met the requirements in 2007. In between 2007 and today, they had to give it right away, which took away from the open space requirements. And after they gave up the right-of-way, they also had to, because of maintenance issues, they paved the dry vials, which is counted toward open space requirements. So that reduced the open space requirements further. So that's where you come up with the 18% today.

If it helps. There's a lot of numbers to run.

Yeah.

Losing the right-of-way impacted at least 4% of the property. then the drive aisles, about 3% as it relates to open space. So you can kind of almost get from 25 to 18 at four and three.

Well, that's where I get confused because like, It was a condition or not a condition to get the PUD approved originally. It almost sounds like the PUD was approved without it as a condition. That is correct. And then they just were right enough to give the right-of-way up when DOT came knocking.

I just want to make sure I understand the timeline.

They knew they had to give up the right-of-way. They gave the right-of-way up. There was no compensation. It was dedicated. However, there must have been, at the time, negotiations saying, look, We already have, it's a tight site. Let us utilize the open space and the right-of-way. And it actually made sense because at that time, when you run all the calculations of the data calculations, it was 7.79 acres. And it would be until the store got built and the right-of-way got dedicated, you know, in the future. So it made sense the way they did it with the site data tabulations and it all worked. And the city at that time allowed them to take credit for what they were going to dedicate.

may have been because of a couple things that I read off here is that one they were going to dedicate it no compensation I'm not sure what then they would have to compensate the landowner but it was a dedication requirement they had to dedicate a portion of their right-of-way to build the shopping center

Was this on Baker Road or US 1, the right-of-way? Baker Road. Baker Road.

Yes, that's where the extended turn lane, that little odd turn lane where you see the diamond in the middle right there, that's the dedicated turn lane. And they actually went, so when they...

Okay, so I understand it more. So you dedicated this right-of-way. DOT paid for the dedicated turning lane?

No.

They did not receive any compensation.

There was a condition where the applicant had to do the improvements as well.

Yes. So, and I think some of their open space mitigation went to the cost that they forwarded over to Haney Creek, because that was the time that we were working on Haney Creek. And they did give a contribution to Haney Creek Preserves at that time as well.

Yeah, $5,000 for that and then $40,000 for landscape. So there was a lot going on in those conditions when this was going on. And it was a pretty big deal at that time because there was a lot. It was a very unique site. Everybody wanted it, but there was a lot of things to address. And then the road came along. Okay.

Commissioner Rich, your light's on.

Yeah, I just wanted to clarify the credit given for pervious pavement. If 4%, they were getting, if that represented 4% of the green space. I don't have those actual numbers. But I'm just, they only get credit for half.

That's correct. They only get credit for half of it.

So even though it's substantially more, they only get credit for half in meeting that percentage requirement, correct?

That is correct. Whenever you do impervious, whenever you do impervious payment, you don't get a full credit. You only get half of it. That's correct, Commissioner.

Do any of the other commissioners have questions for staff or the applicant? Does the petitioner wish to offer any additional information before concluding its presentation?

No.

OK. The presentation of evidence has ended, and the hearing is closed. Does any member of the public wish to make a comment? Public comment is limited to three minutes. Any public comment? All right. It says the party shall be provided with equal time to present the board with its closing remarks. New evidence or testimony will not be allowed during closing remarks. The purpose of the remarks is to afford the parties with an opportunity to comment on the evidence presented during the hearing and issues raised during public comment can be clarified by referencing evidence presented during the hearing and the petitioner shall present last. Didn't know if you had any closing remarks.

I'll just say I'm grateful to be here. This might be my fifth time in this room. No, I missed one because my daughter had to be here because I missed a flight. But I feel like I'm getting to know everybody and I appreciate your attention and look forward to being a part of City Steward.

I'm Ron Yost with Coffee Rush. Thank you.

I'll add one thing. I couldn't think of a better use to close out this site and finish it with a coffee rush.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, so request direction in the form of a motion from the commissioners.

Mr. Mayor, we've discussed it without a motion, so anyhow, I'll make a motion under ordinance.

Well, that's what we're supposed to do. It's quasi-commercial.

I know, I know. move approval with all of the conditions provided by staff and any that may have been suggested today.

Do we have a second on this motion?

I'll second. All right, so we have a motion. for ordinance number 2555-2026 by Commissioner Clark and seconded by Commissioner Rich. I have a question for Lee. Is this where I have to, for public comment? Or this was already done, because it's different on the quasi-judicial, correct? There is no public comment on this. Just making sure okay, so we have the motion And we can deliberate the motion my comments are simple The only thing that concerns me is the whole open space right you guys are going from 25% to 18% and staff Couldn't find another comparison I That's my comment.

It's at 18% now. Correct. It's going from 25 to 18. No, no. It's not at 25. It's at 18 now. Yeah, but it's supposed to be at 25. Before the project.

Yeah.

They came into it with already being 18%. Correct. Yes. They came into the project with it already being 18%. So they really didn't have any play. It was all whatever was done with Publix where they lost that 6% or whatever.

Okay. Do any other commissioners have any comments or discussion? Yes, Commissioner Rich.

No, I'm glad this is a very difficult issue and it's so important that we retain this green space and this stormwater management capability. I take them at their word, and certainly Publix does not have the reputation of acting without the approval of the city in which they operate. So the city did allow them to go down to this 18.5. I think their landscaping is terrific. It's going to be very, very attractive. And I think it is well suited to close this project out. So, you know, reluctantly, I am in, I do view this favorably.

Any other discussion or comments from commissioners? Mary, if you could call the roll.

Sure, Commissioner Giobbe?

Yes.

Commissioner Clark? Yes. Commissioner Rich?

Yes.

Mayor Reed?

No. Motion passes with Mayor Reed dissenting. Congratulations, guys. Thank you. You're welcome. All right, moving on to discussion and deliberation for the Haney Creek referendum.

While Jen's setting up, I'll just give a quick intro. Back in 2006 section 905 of the city charter was added where any convenience or sale or long-term lease in excess of 10 years of any interest in city-owned property along St. Lucie River or along any type of tidal creek requires approval by a referendum. So in 2011 The city went out to referendum on a 1.97, approximately two acre, already commercially zoned parcel that it had purchased. And instead of adding it to the Haney Creek Preserve, they wanted to keep it separate so that they could use any income generated from leasing out that approximate two acre parcel to help fund the maintenance of the park. Earlier this year, City Commission instructed staff to move forward with taking steps to convert the approximate two acre parcel into conservation and adding it to the Haney Creek Preserve. And since we had originally gone out to referendum in 2011 to keep the two acre parcel commercially zoned and use the money for revenue to maintain, since we went out to referendum and the voters voted on it, in this instance, we had to undo it. We need to go back to the voters via referendum to undo that referendum. Also, another step in the process, we had a interlocal agreement with the county in which the county and the city agreed to those terms where the approximate two acre property would be used to generate revenue to fund the maintenance of the park. So we had previously earlier this year had a resolution approving an amendment to that interlocal agreement. It subsequently went to the county and they also passed a resolution. agreeing to amend the interlocal agreement, obviously conditional still upon the voter approval on referendum. And so we've had a few meetings already and we've come again today for a discussion and deliberation. And Jim Trulsky will give you a little bit more detail and background, which you guys had requested previously. So I'll pass it on over to Mr. Trulsky.

Thank you, Mr. Baggett.

Sure.

Jim Kowalski, community services director for the record. And I'd like to thank the commission for putting the trust in me for doing some research on several projects that we've had down the road. I've somewhat become a little bit of a city historian. We worked here with City Hall property and talked all about what the history of our City Hall property that we're sitting on right now. as well as, of course, our ball fields, which was at the last meeting, and then, of course, today we're gonna be talking about Haney Creek. So we're gonna go down a little road here and talk about Haney Creek's history, how it relates to the comprehensive plan, our acquisition timeline, our recent events, and then also the process that you have before you today. These are bullet points that we put together that are really just information about Haney Creek Park and nature preserved. Named after Dr. Horace J. Haney, an early Stewart area physician who settled along the creek in 1882, more than 30 years ago before Stewart was incorporated. Can you imagine what the mosquitoes must have been like back then? The preserve protects part of the Haney Creek watershed which drains into the South Fork of the St. Lucie River. The 157-acre preserve protects rare Florida habitats, including coastal scrubland, pine flatwoods, wetlands, and wet prairie. Originally developed as a stormwater management and environmental restoration project to improve water quality entering the river. Supported by community funding through a voter-approved half-cent sales tax dedicated to environmental improvements. Opened to the public beginning in 2016 with additional trail phases expanding access throughout the preserve. The preserve serves as both a recreational resource and a living example of Stewart's natural landscape before development while helping protect water quality and the St. Lucie River. Today, visitors enjoy 4.4 miles of trails, a dog park, picnic areas and a nature observation opportunity. When we look at Haney Creek, I wanted you to have some maps. And one of the presentations that I referred to earlier was talking about all the green land that we have available in our entire city. This is a slide that was taken from that earlier presentation that shows you all of the areas in which we have dedicated to upland preservation. And I turned this over so that you can actually see the north end of the city of Stewart as well as the south end because it's much easier to look at from this area. And as you can see on the left slide, this area is very dense and it incorporates the Haney Creek Preserve. And on the right, it's everything south of the bridge. During that time period, we talked a little bit about the comprehensive plan. And as you might remember, the City of Stewart manages currently nearly three times the required parkland, exceeding its minimum requirements by 134 acres. And you'll probably say, well, how'd you get to that answer, Jim? Well, we projected the maximum population build out, which is 23,000. Now, we all know that we're not at 23,000 yet, but I wanted to make sure that we used the highest end number that we could. When we look at three acres per thousand residents, it comes to 69 acres. Our managed areas that we manage, all the things that Public Works manages, comes to 203 acres. So that's how we are able to get to that three times. In addition, we have additional green space, not including managed parks, of 528 acres, which gives us a total green space, managed and unmanaged, of 731 acres. So in essence, if you add all of these together, our total green space is more than 10 times the current comprehensive plan's objective. So I'd like to congratulate the city of Stewart and everybody that's up here because we're doing a phenomenal job of making sure that we're meeting our comprehensive plan and it's also exceeding that. I've got about three slides here and I am not gonna read each one to bore you to tears. So what I've done is I've created sort of a little story and I will go through the story in a more entertaining way, but I'm gonna put these slides up here for your reference because a lot of these are documents of when it happened, the actual dates, and I'd like to thank the city manager's office for keeping very copious notes because I was able to go ahead and actually tag all of the dates and all of the resolution numbers so that we have a part of our official record. The story of Haney Creek. Haney Creek has had quite a journey over the past 20 years. In 2007, the property was approved as Harbor Walk Preserve, a mixed-use development with offices, retail, a hotel, and a community trailhead. The project never moved forward, and the developer eventually declared bankruptcy. In 2011, the city of Stewart and Martin County purchased 51 acres of Haney Creek. At that time, the city purchased a separate two-acre parcel along US 1 with the idea of leasing it for commercial development and using the revenue to help maintain Haney Creek and other city-owned environmental lands. Later that year, voters approved the city to use the 1.97 acre parcel for a long term commercial lease. Now, many times you'll be hearing about this two acre parcel. That's sort of a slang name. It actually measures out to be 1.97 acres. So if you hear those terms interchangeably, you'll understand that it's basically the same thing. Over the next decade, the city explored several opportunities for the site. The property remained designated for commercial use while the preserve was recognized for conservation. A few of the development plans included a restaurant, retail space, a hotel, and even affordable housing. While several proposals were considered, none of them ultimately moved forward. And most currently, in 2025, the commission authorized a trailhead on the US-1 parcel. Then in 2026, after receiving an unsolicited proposal from Racetrack, the commission decided to relocate the trailhead to Baker Road. At that time, commissioners revisited the original proposal of the commercial parcel and began discussing whether it was the highest and best use and was no longer commercial. Because of the original agreement with Martin County requires the property to remain available for revenue generating purposes, the agreement must first be amended before the question can be brought back to the voters through a referendum. So that's where we are here now. And many of you were right here while we did some of these things. So you'll remember certainly the last couple of three years, but going way back into history was something I even had to dig out. This is an example of what Haney Creek looks like from an aerial view. And as you can see, it's a very dense green area. It's got some areas that are highlighted through here to orient yourself. And this is an area that we created a GIS map of. And as you'll see from where my cursor is, this is county-owned land. And all of this area in here that's shaded gray is all city-owned land. Our property lines are outlined in blue. And that little infamous two-acre parcel, 1.97, is right there. So you can see it. As soon as you go right over the Roosevelt Bridge, it's just right across from North River Shores. Yes?

That was a property line or the city limits line?

City limits. Thank you. Yes. This is resolution 35 that was done in 2026, which was the ability of being able to go ahead and purchase it with the one cent sales tax. The original referendum was in November the 8th. This is an example to show that we've rescinded the prior referendum, a resolution of the City Commission of the City of Stuart, Florida, providing for ballot language for a referendum under the city charter section 9.05, seeking voter approval to rescind the November 8th, 2011. Election ballot referendum required to lease an undeveloped 1.9 acre commercial parcel fronting US 1 opposite North River Shores Boulevard that was to fund the maintenance of the Haney Creek Preserve so that the 1.97 acre parcel may be converted to conservation and added to the Haney Creek Preserve providing for an effective date and for other purposes. So this is where we have been, and this is where we are now. We have a proposed ballot language that was done, and at this point, since I'm not a lawyer, even though sometimes I like to play one on TV, I will refer any further discussions of the ballot language to Mr. Baggett.

I just want to point out, too, that I neglected to say earlier that I know we've been doing this simultaneously with the ball fields referendum, The ball fields referendum is done by ordinance, so we have to have two readings. In ball fields referendum, we're adding language to the charter, okay? So that when something like this happens, if someone wanted to sell or lease the ball fields, they would have to do a referendum. In distinction, this section is already in our city charter. So we don't have to do an ordinance. We're not adding to the city charter. We're complying with the city charter. The city charter already says you can't sell, convey, or lease for more than 10 years property along St. Lucie River and Tidal Creek. So what was done is we had already done that in 2011 and the voters approved our referendum, city commission in agreement with the county that we would use the approximate two acres to lease out to fund the maintenance of the park. So since the voters voted on that, to undo that we gotta go back to the voters to have them vote on whether or not they wanna Stay the status quo or rescind it and then convert those two acres in the conservation I hope I'm explaining it all right, but there's a lot of confusion between the ball fields and Haney Creek since we're doing it Simultaneously, but there is distinction in all fields where we're amending the city charter to protect it in the future that was already done and in Haney Creek and we were just complying with our city charter and And the proposed language up there is the proposed language that I had done in resolution 40-2026. And so we're here today to discuss this Haney Creek referendum process and the proposed ballot language.

And I have a question, Lee. Is this a two-part referendum? what you're saying, right? No. No, this is a one-part referendum. We're taking care of it all.

So it's a one reading. We're not there because this is a D&D. This is not a resolution. I had brought forth a resolution in the past, but it didn't pass. So we're here to discuss it further. But that was the proposed language that we had in that resolution.

And we publicly noticed this, though, for a date already?

We have a... If you guys continue with wanting to go forward with a resolution with... with this language or amended language. Like in the ball fields, you guys agreed to language, right? And we.

That's why we're discussing this. So we're just. On the 17th as well as the ball fields or.

The only way we could do it timely to make sure we can get it on. So we already scheduled it on another meeting, but.

The 21st? Yeah, 17th. I think it's the 18th. Correct.

No, the deadline.

The deadline for.

21st is the deadline, but the new people. Yeah, correct.

I'm getting confused, too. We have it already scheduled, a resolution with ballot language, hoping that you guys can come to an agreement to go forward with it, and if so, with the ballot language like you did with the ball fields. And if you don't, then we just don't have that agenda item on that special meeting, but we had to go ahead and advertise that as it would be on there so that you could vote on it before the supervisor of elections deadline is, so that it'll be on the November ballot.

The supervisor of elections deadline is August 21st, correctly? Correct.

Yes. So do any commissioners have any comments on the proposed ballot language? Because we as a board majority unanimously voted to rescind the prior referendum that was done in 2011. I have no issues with the referendum as it's written.

We approved the amendment to the interlocal agreement with the county. And the county likewise agreed to an amendment. But both of our resolutions are contingent upon referendum being

Correct.

If we, let's say you approve language, we go out with a referendum and the population votes no.

Then it doesn't pass.

And our local agreement's not amended and we're still status quo.

But what I was getting at is this original referendum was in 2011. We just had a recent referendum two years ago where 64% of Martin County voters wanted more open green space in this county. So Commissioner Rich, your light's on.

Are you saying we've, previously approved this to go forward?

We actually did approve this earlier this year as a board to rescind. See that resolution? Is that the resolution? No. There's one resolution where we wanted to rescind the prior referendum. That's why we're here now. We voted unanimously on this 5-0. Do you have the resolution number handy? It's in the agenda packet.

Because I would not have voted for that.

You had it in your presentation, Jim, if you could pull it up for us. This resolution.

Mr. Baggett, could you clarify what action was taken by this board?

Resolution 35-2026. I'm having trouble reading.

Let me find it online.

Yeah, I have it here.

correct and part of that yeah well sure so it was authorizing um resolution 35 2026 was authorizing uh the city manager to pursue the creation of a trailhead along with associated infrastructure in haney creek off of baker road and to move forward with acquiring land in avonlea that's that's not related to this um so i don't think that was the one jim I think it's 40. No, I think 40.

40, 20, 26.

40's queued up, Lee.

Oh, I'm sorry. I was looking at 35, 20, 26. Resolution of the City Commission providing for ballot language. Well, 40 was not passed.

40 is this one.

Yeah, 40 was, we had brought it before you guys and it did not pass, correct. The only thing that you had instructed us was going forward with the process to convert the two acres into conservation land. But to do that, we have to go out through this, we had to first go for a resolution to amend the interlocal agreement with the county, which we did pass that. and the county passed it, but both of those resolutions were still contingent upon us going out for referendum and having the voters approve such. So we still haven't, we have not approved this to go out to referendum, and clearly not the ballot language. So the staff here is responding to what the commission has asked us to do, and I think I'm not gonna read minds, but it's my understanding that you guys wanted to review the ballot language, just like we did with the ball fields. And if you guys want us to move forward to be on the November election ballot, we need instruction today to bring it back on the 17th in a resolution format with ballot language. And at that point, again, this is a D&D, at that point, The resolution might have this proposed language or any other additional language or amendments that you guys come up with today. And then that would be one reading for the proposed ballot language and approval to go out to referendum. And that would be timely done before the supervisor of elections deadline. Can you put that back up, Jim?

Yes, sir.

It's difficult to come up with language to undo what a referendum had already done in 2011 and explain it in 75 words.

I think you did a great job. Thank you. I really do. I mean, look at the last sentence.

It took a lot of editing just to come up with this. But again, I'm not an expert ballot drafter. But I've gotten some experience this year on it. But I proposed language with the ball fields. And you guys edited it. I took no offense to the edits, because that's why it's your decision what goes out. Again, I'm not professing to be an expert ballot language drafter, but this was the best shot, and I had other staff members review it and also give input on it as well, so I didn't do it alone, but this is what we came up with within the parameters of the statute. You can do 15 words in the title and then 75 words in the ballot language, so if you guys, wanna discuss editing this language or you like this language and you wanna move forward with it, we need a majority vote to bring it back by resolution.

Yeah, I mean, we're talking about 1 3rd, adding 1 3rd of 1% of all the green space the city has. Green space is a responsibility. Green space is an expense. So a couple of things concern me. First of all, if this referendum passes in November, this city and most municipalities will be desperate for diverse forms of revenue. I think the commission that acquired this property with the county had the foresight to understand that it's 153 acres, all of it, Bank Creek, Mr. Cholsky. To really develop it, to make it an attractive element to the city, its residents, and the tourists, takes a lot of money. The questions that we've been asking about this, it's like, to me, it's been, well, what's the minimum amount we can get away with maintaining it? I mean, go out there. It's not good. We're not taking advantage of what we could do with this property. If this referendum passes, the first thing that gets cut are parks, because you're not going to cut the police, you're not going to cut the fire, you're not going to cut the water plant. And we know for a fact when municipal budgets are stressed, parks suffer. It's in preserve, it's effectively in preserve. We're sort of eating our cake and have a tooth. The potential income from this property could be a million dollars over 10 years. And I do not want to deny the taxpayer the opportunity to earn that money. This commission a few hours ago, Our new city manager came to us, he said he did 5% cut across the line, and he needed 1 tenth of 1%. He needed approximately $300,000 more to make it work. And some members of this commission said no. So I don't understand how we so blithely turn our back on potentially a million dollars dedicated. That's not a million dollars in the general fund. That's a million dollars to take care of and improve this preserve, which is a fantastic piece of property. I mean, what I'm willing to do, I think I saw in the budget we get from the half cent sales tax, I think we're projecting $2.6 million. Does that sound right, Mr. Giordino? Do you remember that? Anyway, it's over $2 million. So we're going to get that for ten years. What we're going to have to do is we're going to have to have some sign of a group that's going to be evaluating properties in the city that we want to acquire. And I would be perfectly happy to put this 1.97 acre parcel on the list for consideration. Now many people have told me there are a lot more ecologically sensitive and valuable pieces of property in this city than this. Go stand there for 30 minutes. It is one of the busiest stretches of highway in this city. I knocked on a woman's door who, backs up to Poppleton Creek, she wants to donate her property. She showed me two days before a turtle laying eggs in her yard. I mean, those are the types of property we should be considering acquiring. And not this parcel that provides the options for the taxpayers to get a little bit of relief.

Does that conclude your comments? For clarification as well, so you're saying we should use the half cent sales tax for the Haney Creek?

No, for the piece, the 1.9.

I'm saying its value should be considered by that group.

Wouldn't we still have to have a referendum though, Lee? I don't understand that.

What I'm saying is I don't think it's prudent to move forward at this time, at the very least, because of the potential for a drastic reduction in our ad valorem revenue.

I get where you're coming from, Commissioner Rich, but 64% of voters in Martin County want more green and open space, so we have an opportunity to give them the authorization.

Well, 70% of the people originally wanted this.

Correct, and guess what? We had a new referendum, and it looks like times have changed in Martin County.

2011, there's a difference.

Commissioner Clark, your light's on. Things are more expensive.

Yeah, I know that Commissioner Kroskopf had come here and talked to us, and I don't know if Mr. Kroskier or Mr. Baggett or the city manager had gotten any other input from him since we put this together.

Mayor, are you asking if we talk to Commissioner Crosscock? I have not. I have not.

I have not either. Two meetings ago, I think. Yeah, he came here and spoke to you all. And he asked you not to move forward to do as his board wanted to do in 2011.

Correct. 15 years ago. Times have changed in 15 years. Commissioner, do you have your lights on?

Yes, okay, number one, I'm sorry, in talking to these individuals, you mentioned that the one woman wanted to donate her property. So that we wouldn't have to buy it, that would be a donation to the city. That's a little different than us buying it. So that's number one, and that's great if you were able to procure that. Number two, as the mayor said, in 2011 the citizens decided to approve this referendum. But 2011 is 15 years ago, and a lot has changed over the last 15 years. As more and more development happened, more green space was lost. We have an opportunity here. We have two things. There is, I believe, one entity that wants to purchase or lease the property, etc. But that would be something that would be absolutely detrimental to green space, which it is right there. There's that parking lot and then there's the Haney Creek. So in the course of wanting to gain a million dollars over ten years for the city, we would be jeopardizing the other green space that we have. That just doesn't make sense. And yes, as the mayor said, people are more aware. We need to acquire as much green space as possible. And I think that this would be, again, it's going out for referendum. The people in the city, the taxpayers that they own it, they will be making this decision, not us. So I'm asking for us to move it forward, to get it onto the ballot, and let the citizens decide. I don't know why we're taking that decision away from them. They could go to the ballot and say, you know what, we decided to keep it and we're going to do whatever. But we're not giving them that opportunity. And our job is not to keep that opportunity from them. It's to give them that opportunity.

Does that conclude your comments? That concludes my comments.

And I apologize, Commissioner Clark, I didn't know you weren't finished. Commissioner Reich flipped his light on, so I'm gonna go Commissioner Clark and then Commissioner Rich, okay?

Okay, so I'd like to at least have staff make sure that they talk to Commissioner Kroskopf since we've already done some updated information. And I also wanted to find out, I know that we have the one ballot initiative that we're supposed to be putting on for November. If there's any cost estimate as to what the one or two items that the city may have on the the November ballot, I mean the November election, what the cost is to the city for bringing these two ballot amendments to the...

I just got the nod from Mary. My understanding is correct. There is no cost to add it to a regular election. It's just if we have to do a special election, that's where it could get. And I've heard estimates of about 20 grand that we've heard right now to do a special election. And then I've also heard there's negatives of that. You won't have as much of a turnout, you know, on a special election for something like this.

Does that conclude your comments, Commissioner Clark? Yes, sir. One sec, Commissioner Rich. I know Commissioner Rich raised the concern that we were doing this in a non-presidential election. Has the city ever done a referendum in a non-presidential election? I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. 2011.

Oh, there you go.

2011, that'd be 15. So this was done in a non-presidential election year, because you had 2008 was the presidential election year. So the answer is yes. Thanks, Mike. Appreciate you. Commissioner Rich, your light's on.

So the city is over parked in that we have enormous more green space than even our own comp plan asked for. Has a city acquired more green space since 2011, or have we reduced the inventory of green space?

To my knowledge, we haven't. added any green space since then. This Haney Creek project would have been the last large acquisition. Milton, would you agree with that? Yes. So we don't know, we're guessing? No, we're not. We're saying that Haney Creek would be the last large scale green space acquisition that we've had.

The city attorney light is on too.

He might have a collar.

I mean, yeah, these are huge, but are there a couple acres here or there that we've acquired?

I can't answer that. I just wanted to remind, I just read Resolution 35 where the commission had instructed the city manager to move forward with with the trailhead at Haney Creek, but also to moving forward with acquiring the land, the vacant land and undeveloped land in Avonlea. which I just wanted to point out that I had started that, you guys also authorized the city staff to move forward with doing that in a collaborative effort with the county and I had done so, I had applied to nominate those parcels in Avonlea that are undeveloped to the county and I went before the environmental land, the ELOC board, ELOC committee at the county And it went kind of unexpected, but they are going to reevaluate the nominated parcels, I think in September 21st is their next meeting. And so I'll be going back to the county, this ELOC committee, and we'll be trying to get a ranking and an evaluation from them that would be forwarded to the county commission on whether or not they will collaborate on purchasing or acquiring those properties with the city we as you saw up there already the city and the county already collaborated throughout haney creek a lot of the lands we already own 50 50 with the county there's a portion that the county owns but We actually operate the dog park on their land. And we also maintain the trailhead with bathrooms and so forth. And that's on the north side of Baker Road, going towards the north. And so we already have a collaborative effort. And county staff had approached us first about it. So we were only responding to the county requesting to consider a collaborative effort, which we did. So we are in the process of that. I just wanted to point that out. that in case you guys have forgotten that we, you did vote for us to move forward with that process and we're trying to go through it with collaboratively. Obviously it's taking a slow amount of time. I've made contact with the owners of all the parcels and they all are interested. So as far as the undeveloped, a lot of them have development rights for commercial type properties. And so, haven't gotten anywhere, we haven't even done evaluations or anything like that, but the first thought was to try and get the county to collaborate with us. Obviously then we would have, we wouldn't be paying for all the parcels. We would be paying for 50% of it. And it would be consistent with what we've already done in Haney Creek. But I just wanted to point that out to you.

Thanks, Lee. Does that conclude your comments?

On this, yeah.

Commissioner Rich, your light's on.

And Mr. Baggett, you were unsuccessful. But even if the county did not want to cooperate with us We could take our half-cent sales tax revenue and buy some of these Avonlea properties, apparently, are quite attractive in terms of environmental sensitivity. So we don't need their cooperation to recognize their value and acquire them for the city.

You are correct.

Yes.

And I will say that... So with the ELOC, you nominate the parcel and there were numerous other parcels that were being nominated at the last meeting and when I went forward, I was the last. I sat there for a few hours waiting to be called just like our committee meetings and they voted I think they went beyond, the committee went beyond their power and they voted to not consider our properties at all and not recommend or unrecommend anything to the commission. And then subsequent to that, the county staff had made the decision that they needed to rank, evaluate and rank just like the other parcels, which they did not. They did not have the authority to block it from going to the county commission. So we're gonna go back before them and they're gonna rank it however way they want to rank it. And it might be a recommendation or a non-recommendation to the commission. So there would be two meetings that we would go forward during that process. And Commissioner Rich is correct. You guys gave us authority to move forward with acquiring it, but you also told us to try and do it with the county. So I'm trying to run out all the steps with collaborating with the county. You know, if we have a little, you know, we're gonna have like 25 million over the years. These parcels, one of them's like five acres, I mean, and they've got full development commercial rights. It's gonna use up a majority of our money.

But it was a fair assessment because we're taxpayers in the city and the county, so why would we not collaborate with them? Right, I don't. I mean, we pay both. Why should the county have the entire control of our constituents that we represent?

Well, I'm just running out the steps that you guys already instructed staff to do with the county. Unfortunately, it just got delayed some, but the next meeting, they only meet quarterly. Their next meeting is September. and we'll go through the process again. But that's not, they're only an advisory board that goes to the commission, but they never really evaluated what they were supposed to. So it's gonna go back to them, to the committee, and then it'll subsequently go to the commission with or without their recommendation. And then we can assess at that point whether or not we wanna do it without them. But I'm just thinking at it, financially, if we're spending half the amount of money on those acres, that means we can use the other half for other items like parcels that Commissioner Rich is mentioning. You guys wanted to do a trailhead in Haney Creek, that could come from those funds. And if we expend it all on purchasing the Avonlea acres, there are not gonna be a lot left elsewhere. So when I was at the ELOC, the county environmental staff started doing an evaluation on the different parcels in Avonlea. And I do recall one of them particularly, the five acre parcel that they had evaluated as being very highly sensitive. It had a lot of animals and plant life that was very valuable on their matrix on how they evaluated.

Thanks, Lee, we appreciate you. Mike, your light was on.

Sir, Lee described the technicalities of what we thought was a great strategy on how to leverage the dollars, county and city together to get the maximum impact. and we don't understand the ELOC and their decision, but we are not abandoning our strategy to, again, leverage these dollars, as you suggested, so both the county and the city are maximizing the impact of the half-cent sales tax. Thank you.

Thanks, Mike. Do any of the other commissioners have any comments? Commissioner, or...

Oh, I just want to say, what I don't understand is that you're actually giving the, for some commissioners, you're giving the choice to the residents. They can vote against this amendment. What's not an amendment? It's a resolution. Referendum. Referendum. They can vote against this referendum if they want to decide to take the million dollars over the 10 years, or they could vote to say, no, we want to keep green space, and we want to keep that adjacent to that green space. And, I mean... We're putting it in their hands. They could make the decision.

It's their money They can decide that they want to lease the land or they can decide that they want to save it for green space That's all I wanted to say All right, I'm gonna make it easy I'm gonna pass the gavel to Commissioner Clark and I'm gonna make a motion for resolution number 40 2026 for the Haney Creek referendum with the proposed ballot language as posted in our agenda packet. And hopefully I can get a second and we can get a vote on the record up here tonight.

I will second that motion.

And there's a motion and a second. Lee, do you need to read the ballot language again or is it?

No, I guess I want to be clear on the motion. The motion is to return resolution 40-2026 with the proposed ballot language. Okay.

You're not voting on the resolution because it's not before you. Okay, so there's a motion by Mayor Reed and a second by Commissioner Giobbe. Are there any... I guess I'll ask if there's any public comments. Any public comment? Any further comment from the commissioners? Now we go to our clerk.

Commissioner Clark? Yes. Commissioner Giobbe? Yes. Commissioner Rich?

No.

Mayor Reed?

Yes.

So we're just going to come back with this language again before it actually gets put on the ballot.

On the 17th.

And then the public will be here. And the public will be here. And if we have other people, and there's always a chance to vote one way or another.

So we're back in a week.

Yep. Yeah. We're back in a week. That'll be 10 days between the...

So motion passes 3-1 with Commissioner Rich dissenting.

to bring it back, just to bring back this language. Thank you.

Any further discussion this evening from commissioners? I'm gonna adjourn this meeting at 7.01 p.m. Thanks.